TX 

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FIFTH EDITION. 

THE BEST R::ADING; 

A CLASSIFIED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR EASY REFERENCE, 

WITH 

Hints OH the Selection of Boohs: on the Formation of Libraries, 

Public and Private; on Courses of Reading, etc., a Guide 

for the Librarian^ Boohbuyer and Hookseller. 



The Clas 
elude all tl: 
Britain or t 



" The best i 

" We knov 
library."— ^V. 

"For refere 

" Supplies i 



I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, t 



^'m.'^^k>^^'m>'m^^^<m><^. '^'^R, 



'%.'?i,<^<?S,^. <^^,<-^igi 



lings, in- 
in Great 

NEXED. 



fleeter of a 



' The arrangement of the Volume i.s excellent, and a \&^\, amount of time and monej' 
may be saved, and a great deal of useless and hurtful trash may be avoided by con- 
sulting W^— American Histoncal Recwd. 



II. 

FOURTH EDITION. 

limAT TO EAT. A Manual for the Housekeeper: 
giving a Bill of Fare for every day in the year. Paper, 
50 cts. Cloth, 75 cts. 

"Compact, suggestive, and full of good ideas."— J/any Housekeepers. 

'• It can hardly fail to prove a valuable aid to housekeepers who are brought to their 
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III. 

FIFTH EDITION. 

5'T^ILL THE DOCTOR COMES; and How to Help 
-■- Him. By George H. Hope, M.D. Revised, with 
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might cause its \oss.'"—Athol Trariscript. 

"A perfect gem for the sick-room, and should be in every family."— Fe«a/i^o 
Spectator. 

- " Indispensable for the household."— Utica Herald. 

THIRD EDITION. 

O TIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS ; Medically, Philo- 
"^ sophically, and Morally Considered. By George M. 
Beard, M.D. i2mo, Paper, 50 cts. Cloth, 75 cts. 

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"T^HE STUDENTS OUN SPEAKER. By Paul Reeves. 
A Manual of Oratory, comprising New Selections, 
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THE HOME: 

V/HERE IT SHOULD BE AND WHAT 
TO PUT IN IT. 



BY 



/ 



FKANK R. AND MARIAN STOCKTON. 



ir\ I 



1 







NEW YORK: J, 
G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, 

FOTJKTH AVENUE AND TWENTY-THIRD STREET. 

1873. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, 

In the Office of the Librariun of Congress, at Washington. 



Lange, Little & Hillman, 

peintbrs, electrotypkrs and steeeotypers, 

108 TO 114 WoosTEK St., N. Y. 



PREFACE. 

( Which it may he well to read,) 



This book has been prepared more especially for 
those about to commence house-keeping, but will, we 
hope, be found not without interest and value to those 
of more experience. 

The first portion of it, relating to the selection or 
building of a house, is more general in its treatment of 
the subject than the portions relating to the furnishing 
and interior arrangements. We have endeavored to 
write only of what housekeepers should do for them- 
selves. In a book of this size we could not undertake 
to give plans of houses and architectural directions. 
These belong to works on building. But as the care- 
ful selection of a house, or the intelligent supervision 
of its construction, should be the duty of those intend- 
ing to establish for themselves a satisfactory home, we 
have treated of these subjects. 

But, when the house is ready for occupancy, the real 
work of the housekeepers commence. They, themselves, 



VUl PBEFACE. 

must furnish their home, and, to a very great extent, 
must depend upon their own judgment and good sense. 
To aid in this work, we have given very particular and 
expHcit directions in regard to house -furnishing, which 
is mainly the purpose of this volume. 

We have also devoted considerable space to various 
departments of domestic economy, having in view the 
needs not only of those of small means, but of persons 
of good incomes, to whom it is an object to make an 
economical and advantageous disposition of their 
money. 

And, in treating of the furnishing and general ar- 
rangements of a house, we have endeavored to consider 
not only the ordinary subjects of convenience, expense, 
etc., but those of beauty, and artistic effect. And with 
these economy is perfectly compatible, for to make a 
home tasteful and attractive money is often not so ne- 
cessary as study and observation, and a little earnest- 
ness in regard to the desired end. 

For information in various parts of this volume we 
are indebted to Messrs. Kelty & Co., Edward D. Bass- 
ford, Degraaf & Taylor, Lord & Taylor, and Ball, Black 
& Co., of New York, and James H. Orne, Son & Co., of 
Philadelphia. 



THE HOME 



PART I. 
THE LOCATION OF THE HOME. 

A COUNTRY HOME. 

Under this title we will consider the homes of coun- 
try people, not the country residences of persons doing 
business in the city. These will be treated under an- 
other head. 

There is, perhaps, less opportunity of selection in re- 
gard to the location of a country house than in any 
other instance ; for we are very apt, when we buy, or 
rent a farm, large or small, to give the chief consider- 
ation to the land, and to be satisfied, or to endeavor to 
be satisfied with the house we find upon it. This is 
often our only course, but it also happens, frequently 
enough, that a country house is to be built, and the 
locality of this we will consider. 

If there has been a house on the farm, the new edifice 
is generally erected on, or near, the location on which 
the old one stood, for there are all the conveniences 
and outside belongings of the dwelling. If, then, these 
conveniences are to be considered of the first import- 



10 THE HOME. 

ance there is nothing more to be said about the location. 
But we do not subscribe to the doctrine of the domina- 
tion of convenience which governs so many country 
builders. We would place the requisites for a good 
location of a country home in the following order : 
healthfulness, comfort, convenience. Therefore, in the 
first place, the house should be on a portion of the land 
where good drainage is ^Dossible ; it should be well 
shaded, but not too much so ; and its situation should 
be as convenient as possible in respect to water, access 
to farm buildings, the road, and the fields. 

This matter of a healthful location is too often en- 
tirely neglected in building country houses. A low, 
damp locality is attractive because it is better sheltered 
from the winds of winter ; water is more readily ob- 
tained ; the kitchen garden may be of better soil ; and, 
if there is danger of chills and fever, and of rheuma- 
tism, these are dangers to which country people have 
been so long familiar that they have become tired of 
being prudent. But we might as well live as long and 
as happily as we can, and, if there is a choice of lo- 
cation, let us build on that which is most healthful, un- 
less circumstances compel us, as they unfortunately 
sometimes will, to do otherwise. 

There is nothing which conduces so much to the com- 
fort of a country house as the shade and protection 
afforded by trees, and yet bare houses are as common 
on a farm as bare feet. Very often the first thing done 
after the site for the house is selected is to cut down all 
the trees thereon. Absolute barbarity is often displayed 
in such cases, when grand trees of years of magnificent 
growth are sacrificed to the mere convenience of a car- 
penter or mason. There are few thine's about which we 



LOCATION OF THE HOME. 11 

should hesitate so long as the felling of a fine tree near 
the future homestead. 

To be sure, roots and branches are often great hin- 
drances to cellar-digging, and house-building, and it is 
so easy to set out young trees ! This is true, but it is 
not always easy to live until those trees have grown to 
their full size and use. It is well for a place to be plea- 
sant for our children, but it is better to have it pleasant 
also for ourselves. So, if possible, have trees about j^our 
house, or go a little out of your way to find a place 
where there are trees ; oaks, maples, etc., for shade, and 
cedars and other evergreens for protection against the 
blasts of winter. 

In regard to the convenience of a situation it is not 
necessary to say much. The country builder is always 
ready enough to consider this branch of the subject. 
But it is better to depend for water on a hydraulic ram 
or a pipe from a distant spring than to sacrifice comfort 
and health to a well at the back door. And we earnestly 
advise the country builder to consider that he is a man 
as well as a farmer — that the health and happiness of 
his family are worth as much at least as the possible 
profit from placing the barn on the side of a convenient 
rise in the ground, and the house wherever it may be 
most convenient to the stables and the pig pen. 

We will be glad to see the- day when the barn becomes 
the auxiliary of the dwelling ; when the family is con- 
sidered first, and the cattle afterward. 

To many parts of our country these remarks do not 
apply. The homestead there is on the finest situation on 
the farm, and the necessary buildings cluster around as 
they are needed. But in many localities the magnificent 
barns and the poor, make-shift dwellings make us long 



12 THE HOME. 

for a change in that rural sentiment which sets the com- 
fort and well-be 
human owners. 



fort and well-being of a horse or a cow over that of their 



A SUBUKBAN HOME. 

This is a general term to designate the dwellings of 
those who do business in the city, but who live outside 
of the business limits. 

In the first place, as in the former instance, we ought 
to think of health. Around many cities, great care is 
necessary to avoid what are called the chill and fever 
districts. Ill-drained locations ; sites. near or on new- 
made ground, or fiUed-in marshes ; must be avoided if 
you wish to remain on distant terms with that unplea- 
sant acquaintance — the fever and ague. It will not do 
to depend on inquiries of property holders, or even of 
the residents of the neighborhood. No matter where 
you niay go you will find that people who have lands to 
sell are nearly always very favorably impressed with the 
superior healthfulness of their property. Close and 
careful investigation will alone disclose the truth. And 
it is possible to discover it without living on the spot to 
find out by actual experiment whether you will be sick 
or not. The investigation may be troublesome, but it 
will repay all the money or time you spend upon it. 

Then, if you intend to buy or build your house the 
value of land ought to be considered ; not only the 
price at the time but the possible rise and decrease in 
such price. There are building sites in and around 
New York which to-day are not worth the money that 
was paid for them several years ago, and there are, as 
every one knows, lots that have doubled and trebled in 
value in the same time. The improving tendencies of 



LOCATION OF THE HOME. 13 

a neighborhood, and the probabihty of increased ac- 
cessibihty to the business centres, will be considered by 
every man of ordinary judgment, but it is so easy to be 
misled m these regards that great prudence, united to 
a spn-it of investigation, is always needed. The repre- 
sentations of agents and owners are almost always apt 
to show an unnaturally bright side of the picture. It 
must be toned down by good, hard common sense be- 
fore you can look at it properly. 

Taxes, and probable assessments for improvements 
opening streets, etc., always exercise a very powerful 
mfluence upon the value of a lot to a man in moderate 
circumstances. To the rich, the fact that he is obliged 
to help pay for the opening of a street through the 
property need matter little, for the expense is likely to 
be repaid to him two or three fold in the course of 
time, but it is widely different in the case of a man in 
moderate circumstances. The hundred dollars which 
lie IS required to pay to-day may be worth far more to 
him than the three or four hundred dollars of in- 
creased value that may accrue upon his land in conse- 
quence of that expenditure may be worth to him in a 
few years. The expenses which tell the heaviest upon 
a young man's prosperity are very often those which 
beset him at the commencement of his business career ; 
and this fact should be kept in view when seductive 
pictures of prospective advantages are held before him 
It is well to provide for the future, but, if possible, let 
it be without too great a sacrifice of the present. To 
be truly prosperous one ought to be 'proportionately 
prosperous all the time. 

Thus much m regard to privations and embarrass- 



14 THE HOME. 

ments consequent upon drains upon the dimes of to-day 
in hopes of additions to the dollars to-morrow. 

It is generally true, however, that the greater num- 
ber of those who live in small suburban houses rent 
their dwellings, and for these, if they secure a tolerably 
long lease of the premises, it is not necessary to con- 
sider the probable rise and fall of the value of the 
property. If the house be taken from year to year 
an unexpected increase in rent may make itself un- 
pleasantly felt by the tenant without the possibility 
of any compensating advantage to him, and a pru- 
dent man will therefore endeavor to secure a lease 
upon a property in which he desires to establish a 
home. In such cases he not only makes, with some 
certainty, his calculations as to his expenses for a few 
years, but he will feel much more strongly encouraged 
to make improvements in house and grounds. Too 
many tenants endure privations and inconveniences, 
little and great, because they think it is hardly worth 
while to spend money or labor in improvements which, 
after all, may only be for the benefit of the next tenant. 
But, with a lease, one may plant with some certainty 
that he shall reap, and not another. 

Apart from the question of the value of the pro- 
perty, as many things must be taken into considera- 
tion in regard to the rented house as one that is pur- 
chased. In both cases the house is to be lived in, and 
the tenant would like to be as happy in his home as if 
he were its owner. Consequently questions of location, 
convenience, access, etc., should be considered by the 
tenant as well as the house-owner. 

As a rule, rents in the suburbs are not high in pro- 
portion to the prices necessary to pay for portions of 



LOCATION OF THE HOME. 15 

houses in the cities. The price of rents depends 
somewhat, although not as much as circumstances 
would seem to demand, upon the means of access from 
the city to the suburb. In many cases rents are quite as 
cheap when one can travel to and fro in a commodious 
steamboat, or in the steam cars, as on those long and 
wearisome lines of horse cars, which now run out of 
almost all our large cities. 

It is probable that in a few years most of these 
cities will have improved methods of transit to and from 
the suburbs and outlying country, but, until then, we 
would urge those who care for comfort, health, and a 
tranquil mind, to avoid the necessity of connecting their 
homes and their business by means of the horse cars. 
Especially in the summer they may be considered as the 
seed beds of much of the disease of the cities. The 
extra money paid on the railroad or steamboat will 
often be much less than the doctor's bills which have 
their foundation in the packed boxes on wheels that 
ply up and down the length and breadth of our great 
cities. 

Not only, then, should the time needed to reach your 
home be considered, but the means of reaching it 
should be carefully pondered, before making up your 
mind in regard to its location. 

The same remark would apply to the selection of 
apartments were it not that these are almost always 
within the city limits, where horse cars are the only 
means of reaching them. The evil, therefore, must be 
borne in these instances, if the distance is too great for 
the reserved power of one's legs. 



PART II, 
THE HOUSE FOR THE HOME. 

THINGS TO BE CONSIDERED. 

The man who is enabled to build himself a house 
ought to be in this regard a happy man, but it does 
not always happen that he is such. If he fail to avail 
himself of his opportunities, and finds it out, the sense 
of the " might have been " will be very depressing. He 
is in far more unhappy case than the man who takes up 
his abode in a house all ready to his hand, and who con- 
tents himself, of necessity, with things as he finds them. 

Therefore, let us think a little before we build, and, 
as far as possible, govern circumstances rather than 
submit to them. We have great privileges. Let us not 
allow them to slip away. 

It is not the intent of this volume to give directions 
for putting up a house, or to inform any one of the best 
methods of making windows or doors, or the most de- 
sirable plans for roofs and stairways. The way to 
have a good house is to get good men to build it — men 
who understand their business, whether the building is 
to be of logs or brown-stone. But we may be permitted 
to tell the buUders what we want, and it is then theii* 
duty to give it to us. 



THE HOUSE FOR THE HOME. 17 

And here we will remark that one of the best ad- 
visers in regard to the planning of a house is a man's 
wife — the woman who is to be the mistress of the estab- 
lishment. She it is who will make the greatest use of 
the closets, the stairs, the rooms, the cellars, the garrets, 
the kitchen, the entries, and the pantries ; and she it is 
who should have the most potent voice in theu' arrange- 
ment. If a mistake is made in regard to these things, 
the wife will be the greatest sufferer. Give her a 
chance then to prevent mistakes. Her knowledge of 
what is needed in house-building to make housekeeping 
perfect will be of great advantage in drawing out the 
plan. 

Nearly every one has an idea of what kind of house 
he would like ; but there is a fashion in houses, and, 
when a builder comes to build, it will often be found 
that this fashion interferes very much with the comfort 
and convenience of the person who is to pay for the 
house and live in it. Take a stand then, and have your 
house as you want it, no matter how the rest of the 
buildings in the block or neighborhood may be con- 
structed. If you prefer to sacrifice comfort to appear- 
ance and uniformity that is your own affair ; but if you 
want to have a house that will be convenient and sen- 
sible, let your builder know that you intend to have it. 
This may necessitate a struggle, but a good house is 
worth struggling for. 

To begin then, insist, when you are consulting about 
your plans, (and these remarks will apply to all houses, 
whether they cost but a thousand or two, or tens of 
thousands,) upon plenty of light and ventilation. It is 
on these fields that your principal battles will be 
fought. The builder will not object to hght and air in 



18 THE HOME. 

the abstract ; but, if narrow windows are the style, he 
will want to put them in ; if open fire-places are not 
included in his private plans, he will want to leave them 
out ; and, if he is in the habit of putting up half a 
story at the top of his houses, he will want to put it on 
yours. But stand up for your own ideas in these re^ 
spects. If he is not a man to whom you feel you can 
defer in regard to the execution of the plans, it will be 
better to drop him at once, for you are, in a great de- 
gree, responsible to yourself and family for the suitable- 
ness of the plan. 

There is no reason why there should be so many 
badly built houses. It seldom costs more to put up a 
well-arranged house than one which is unhealthful and 
inconvenient. Why, for instance, should we not have 
good, high rooms at the top of the house ? A few more 
rows of bricks, or a little more framework, windows a 
little higher, and a trifle more plastering, and we have 
rooms instead of cubby-holes. Nothing to us seems to 
indicate more plainly a badly-planned house than little 
hot rooms with low ceilings and contracted windows at 
the top of a house. The comparatively small amount 
of money necessary to make these rooms of a reasonable 
height, fit for the occupation of decent human beings, 
would be as profitably invested as that expended upon 
any other portion of the house. But it is not generally 
the want of money that prompts the building of these 
low, uncomfortable rooms — it is the want of judgment. 

Water in the house is such an immense advantage 
that it is included in all good plans wherever circum- 
stances will permit. If there is a running stream near 
the house, a hydraulic ram may be constructed which 
will force the water all over the house : but if there is 



THE HOUSE FOR THE HOJIE. 19 

no such stream, a spring may be found at such an ele- 
vation as to allow the water to flow through pipes into 
the house without any mechanical system of pumping, 
or forcing. And, if there is nothing but a well, a sys- 
tem of pipes, through which the water may be occa- 
sionally pumped into the house, will be found of the 
greatest advantage. Then, there may be a bath-room, 
water iii the kitchen, stationary wash tubs, and a variety 
of the conveniences of civilization impossible, or nearly 
so, when the water must be carried by hand into the 
house. 

Even more important than bringing water into the 
house is that of keeping water out of it. A damp house 
is not fit to live in. We may make our roofs and our 
walls tight, and yet our houses may be like grave-yard 
vaults, if the proper precautions against damp walls and 
cellars are not taken during the process of building. In 
the first place the soil on which the house is built should 
be so drained that the foundations will rest absolutely 
on dry ground. Then the walls above the floor level 
should be separated from those below it by some sub- 
stance impervious to water. Otherwise we cannot al- 
ways be certain of dry walls. No drains should ever 
be allowed to run under a dwelling, for any drain may 
leak, and then disease is almost certain. 

These things, apparently the duty of the builder, will 
often be neglected, if the owner of the house does not 
see for himself that they are attended to. 

Again, especially if the house is in the country, the 
question of shade should be considered, and it may be 
that shade without trees must be sought for. We can 
plant trees where there are none, but we cannot make 
trees grow to be shade trees for many years. Large 



20 THE HOME. 

forest trees are sometimes transplanted into lawns with 
success, but these cases are exceptional. A piazza is a 
matter more under our control, but it often happens 
that even piazzas require the growth of vines and the 
aid of trees before they become entirely reliable for 
purposes both of shelter and shade. Especially is this 
the case when it is possible only to have them on cer- 
tain sides of the house. Piazzas are often of but par- 
tial advantage to the new house. In such cases it has 
been very sensibly suggested that if the piazzas be sup- 
plemented with awnings, which, at comparatively small 
expense, can be made to reach from the roof to posts 
set up four or five feet outside of the portico, a comfort- 
able shade can be secured at all hours of the day. 
Broad flaps hanging from the edges of these awnings 
will greatly assist in keeping off the rays of the sun. 
A piazza thus protected is a constant comfort in the 
summer, in rain or sunshine. 

When a home is built and furnished, we should en- 
deavor, of course, to guard it from danger ; and its 
greatest danger is from fire. In cities we place our re- 
liance for safety upon the Fire Department, and upon 
careful management and oversight of our stoves and 
grates. But in the country we must generally look to 
ourselves, not only to prevent fires, but to extinguish 
them after they have broken out. And it very often 
hajDpens that, when a house is built in the country, not 
the slightest provision is made for extinguishing fires. 
In fact, when a country residence takes fire, it generally 
burns down ; and the efforts of its occupants and the 
neighbors are confined to saving the furniture and valu- 
ables. It seems almost incredible that persons of or- 
dinary prudence will be content to invest their money 



THE HOUSE FOR THE HOME. 21 

and risk their lives in a house which it may be impossi- 
ble to save from destruction if a coal should fall upon 
the floor, if a lamp should upset, or if any of the mani- 
fold accidents should happen, which the use of fire al- 
ways renders possible. 

And it is the more wonderful that these precautions 
are not taken when we reflect how comparatively httle 
they cost. A trifling economy in building, the giving 
up of a bay window, of an ornamental cornice, of an 
extra-handsome fence, or of many an adjunct to a build- 
ing that may be dispensed with without actual discom- 
fort or loss, may enable one to provide the means for 
extinguishing a fire in his house. 

These means are various. If there is a well on the 
premises, a hose long enough to be carried from the 
well to the upper stories of the house with a properly 
arranged force x^ump, may be sufiicient in many cases. 
Sometimes it may be considered best to have a cistern 
kept full of water for use in case of fire, or it may be 
preferred to build a tank in the upper part of the house, 
which may be kept full of rain water by means of tin 
spouts connecting with the roof. Bat, in any case, the 
recently invented Fire Extinguishers, which are always 
ready for use, and of the greatest service in case of fires, 
may be provided, and they may be relied upon with 
confidence. They will cost about sixty dollars each, 
and this sum can be included in the estimates of ex- 
penses without increasing the sum total, if it be con- 
sidered that nothing is more important to a house than 
protection against fire. Do without something else, if 
you will, but do not do without some sort of fire appa- 
ratus. 

In this connection we would also urge the necessity 



22 THE HOME. 

of a trap-door in the roof of every country house. 
These are often dispensed with because they may possi- 
bly allow rain to leak in around their edges; but if they 
are properly made there need be no danger of this, 
and their use in case of a fire on the roof is incalcul- 
able. With easy access to the roof a man may extin- 
guish with a hose, or a few buckets of water, or some 
wet blankets, a fire that will be entirely beyond his con- 
trol by the time he has clambered up an unsafe and in- 
sufficient ladder, or has cut a hole through his roof. 

It is a very prudent thing to insure ourselves against 
loss by fire, but it is still more prudent to have within 
our own hands the means of preventing such loss. 

There are many other conveniences which might al- 
most be considered necessities, if comfort is our object, 
which will suggest themselves to the mind of the 
thoughtful builder, and which will be of far more use 
and satisfaction, and much less cost, than many of the 
tawdry arrangements with which it is now fashionable 
to adorn the exterior of a house. It is not always 
money that is needed in these cases ; generally it is only 
necessary to be convinced of the advantage of such ad- 
juncts to a pleasant home. The mind that is satisfied 
of their value will seldom find insurmountable diffi- 
culties in the way of their attainment. 

With these remarks, which are intended merely to 
call attention to some of the points desirable in a good 
house, be it grand or humble, and which are generally 
within the means of persons in moderate circumstances, 
we leave the subject of building. 

The person who rents a house is, of course, in a great 
degree the victim of circumstances, but the foregoing 
remarks will apply to him in many instances. If he 



THE HOUSE FOR THE HOME. 23 

cannot build, it may be that he can alter, and, if he has 
a lease upon the premises, it may pay him admirably to 
make improvements on the place, such as we have sug- 
gested, even if he is obliged to leave them behind him 
when he changes his residence. Three or four years of 
comfort are not to be undervalued by beings whose 
earthly existence is so limited as ours. 

SEVERAL HOMES IN ONE HOUSE. 

The system of two or more families residing in one 
house, which has long been quite common in Europe, 
has been adopted of late years in some of our large 
cities, particularly in New York, where rents have re- 
cently been very high. In some cities, such as Phila- 
delphia, where there are so many small, convenient 
houses, at reasonable rents, a family of moderate means 
can readily have a dwelhng to itself, and there the 
idea of several families hving in one house is re- 
ceived with great disfavor. But in New York it is al- 
most impossible for any one to rent a whole house who 
does not possess a handsome income, and therefore it 
is often absolutely necessary to be content with a part 
of one. In many cases, provided the families are con- 
genial, and the dwelling will admit of separate house- 
hold arrangements, the joinf occupants of a house live 
together with much comfort and harmony : but to x^er- 
sons unaccustomed to the plan it is often a long time 
before a -part of a house will possess the cherished 
characteristics of a home. But famiharity not only 
breeds contempt, but content ; and when we come to 
the co-partnership system, and find that so many re- 
spectable people besides ourselves have adopted it, we 



24: THE HOME. 

become reconciled to tlie plan, and consider our part 
of the house our home as much as if we occupied the 
whole of it. 

There is a system of building houses, arranged in 
flats according to the French method, where every floor 
is a dwelling by itself, with all the modern conveniences, 
and where the different tenants are as private as per- 
sons living in separate houses on the same street, which 
will, .if generally adopted, go far to remove the objec- 
tions to the plan of congregated households ; but at 
present these " flats " are generally held at such high 
rates that it is often almost as cheap to rent a house as 
one of them. It is true that they are frequently more 
convenient than a house would be for which the same 
rent is charged ; but until they are constructed in such 
a way that they can be had at more reasonable rents, 
they will not become pojpular with people of slender 
incomes. 

But, if it is possible to obtain one of these flats or 
floors that has been constructed on the improved 
models, it will prove to be wonderfully convenient and 
satisfactory to families who must live in a house with 
others. Parlors, dining-rooms, bed-rooms, kitchens, 
and every modern improvement will be found upon the 
floor that is rented, and a household may be even more 
private than if it occupied a house with neighbors on 
each side of it, and on the opposite side of the street. 

The French flat plan may be said to be yet in its in- 
fancy here ; but if it ever attains in our cities the per- 
fection to which it has been brought in Europe, where 
it is united with various plans of cooperative household 
economy, it will go very far towards mitigating many 



THE HOUSE FOR THE HOME. 25 

of the nuisances and reducing many of the expenses of 
hfe in a crowded metropolis. 

It may be well to state to those who are not familiar 
with the mode of living to which we have referred, that 
none of our remarks apply to what are generally known 
as tenement houses. A French flat house and a tene- 
ment house are as different as a gentleman and a boot- 
black. 



PART III. 
FUENISHING- THE HOUSE. 

TMB PABL O R. 

The kitchen should be the first room famished ; then 
the dining-room ; next the bedroom, and halls ; and, 
lastly, the parlor. This is the order of importance, be- 
cause eating is absolutely necessary to existence, and 
refreshing sleep is also necessary, while one might live 
to a healthy old age without a parlor. The dining- 
room will answer for the purpose of a parlor in cases of 
necessity, but this arrangement is not desirable, and is 
not recommended where there are means to furnish a 
separate room. But do not have a poorly furnished 
kitchen, and a meagre dining-room, or an uncomfort- 
able bed for the sake of a parlor. 

It is doubtful whether the room we are about to de- 
scribe is a parlor. It certainly is not in the common 
acceptation of the word in America, although very ap- 
plicable in its original signification. For the English 
word parlor comes from the French parloir — a name 
bestowed upon that room in a monastery, set apart as a 
reception room for visitors — and that again from the 
verb parler, to converse. And our room will inevitably 
become the talking-room of the house. But, in this 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 27 

country the parlor is regarded as the " compauy-room," 
enth-ely distinct from the reception-room, corresponding 
with the Enghsh drawing-room, and the French salon, 
and is appHed indiscriminately to the long suite of 
lofty, elegantly-appointed saloons of the millionnaire, and 
to the ten-feet-by-ten best room of the fifth story of a 
tenement house. 

And, was there ever an American woman, who, fur- 
nishing a house, did not first lay aside the money for 
the parlor ? A parlor there must be, even if after it 
there come the deluge. And, when this much-desired 
room is complete in all the splendors of Brussels car- 
peting, brocatelle, and walnut, the children must not 
play in it, the husband must not smoke in it, or lounge 
on the sofa, the sunshine must never look in, even the 
fi'esh air is unwelcome, because the open windows usher 
in the flies, and a fly buzzing about that immaculate 
room would inspire as much horror as the advent of a 
chattering girl of seventeen into a La Trappe monas- 
tery. When such a room is opened on company occa- 
sions the dampness strikes to the bones of the guests, 
while the touch-me-not cleanliness, and frigid dignity 
of the grand furniture settle on theii' sjpirits with 
the weight of lead. In country places it often happens 
that this room is not used haif-a-dozen times a year, and, 
meanwhile, the family room, where all the familiar talk 
is held, where the children and grown-up people as- 
semble around the evening lamp, and where the minds 
of the former receive deeper impressions than in all 
other places, is the kitchen, or dining-room, or possibly 
some barely-furnished sitting-room, suggestive of noth- 
ing but discomfort and ugliness. 

It need not be inferred from these remarks that we 



28 THE HOME. 

consider a private family sitting-room an undesirable 
thing. It is always a comfort where there is money 
sufficient for furnishing several rooms, and is useful for 
a withdrawing room when company becomes a weari- 
ness, and also as a general work-room ; but still let the 
parlor be the family room, and if you have a sitting- 
room, let it be a prettily furnished and attractive apart- 
ment, and not a poverty-stricken make-shift. This kind 
of room is almost a necessity where a family is large, 
and entertains much comi^any, for it is not to be expected 
that every member of a large family will always have 
the time or inclination to entertain visitors, and out of 
a wide circle of acquaintances there is only a select few 
that we care to admit to the family retreat. But we do 
protest against taking the lion's share of the funds set 
apart for furnishing to adorn a room intended only for 
" company." 

Tlie room which we are about to describe is good 
enough for a parlor, and not too good for a sitting- 
room. We reverse the order of furnishing rooms that 
we recommended in the opening paragraph, beginning 
our descriptions with the apartment of greatest digTiity, 
because thus we will avoid some repetitions that would 
otherwise be unavoidable. 

Let us commence with the ceiling. It is to be hoped, 
for the sake of comfort, as well as of beauty, that this 
is high, but if, unfortunately, it should be low, do not 
have it of a dark tint. White is most generally used, 
because it looks well with all kinds of wall papers, but 
it is not always desirable. A delicate pink, or buff, 
throws down a more agreeable and softer light on 
bright days, if the paper hangings will allow these 
tints to be used. If the ceiling is high it may have a 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 29 

little deeper tinge, if desired — rose or maize color — but 
even here care should be taken that it is not dark in 
efiect. The ceiling should always be lighter than the 
walls. 

In regard to wall coverings, paper hangings are the 
most popular, and are used everywhere. Even the 
rough interiors of log cabins in the far West are often 
covered with illustrated newspapers, thus economically 
combining paper hangings and pictures. There is, we 
think, no style of wall paper to be compared as to 
beauty with the plain-tint paper. The effect is fine, and 
yet unobtrusive ; it does not dwarf the size of a room 
as pattern paper often does ; on it pictures show to 
good advantage ; it corresponds with any style of fur- 
nishing ; and it is always in fashion — or, rather, it never 
looks bizarre, no matter what particular fashion may 
happen to be popular. There is a prevaihng opinion 
that it soils easily, but this is a mistake ; it will keep 
clean as long as any paper. 

There is a style, forty inches wide, beautifully fin- 
ished, with a fine soft gloss that gives the wall the ap- 
pearance of being painted. This sells at a dollar a 
piece. There are other styles, both glazed and un- 
glazed, some very pretty and of excellent quality for 
sixty cents a piece. 

It is not the fashion now to have an unbroken sur- 
face of wall from the ceiling to the base-board. We 
are, in many matters, returning to old methods, having 
discovered that our ancestors were not quite devoid of 
taste, and, among other things, have adopted the wain- 
scotings that were their pride. And, in rooms that are 
not wainscoted, we also follow their fashion in a like 
case, and put around the wall, about three feet above 



dU THE HOME. 

the floor, a moulding called a chair-rail. This serves 
the double purpose of breaking up the blank uniformity 
of much space with the same coloring, and of protect- 
ing the walls from being scratched and rubbed by the 
furniture. 

This moulding can be used very effectively with the 
plain tint paper by having a dark tint below it, and a 
lighter one above ; a rich yellow-brown below, and 
cream color or amber above the chair-rail ; or a heavy 
purple-grey below, and a light stone color above ; and 
other combinations may be made with finer effects than 
these suggested, by considering the situation of the 
room in regard to sunshine, and various other matters. 
These plain-tint papers should have a rather narrow 
border, with rich, bright colors (something in the style 
of the arabesque or scroll patterns is most desirable) on 
very dark grounds, black generally being the handsom- 
est. A narrow gilt bead border for an edging, between 
the paper and bordering, will be a very pretty addi- 
tion. 

The moulding for the chair-rail should be tacked on 
where the two papers are joined. Moulding is sold ex- 
pressly for this purpose, but something suitable can be 
bought from any cabinet-maker or carpenter for five or 
six cents a yard for common pine, and ten and twelve 
cents for finer woods. The former presents a very 
handsome appearance when stained with black walnut 
stain. 

The narrow gilt bead bordering is eight to twelve 
cents a yard, and the rich bordering, described above, 
from ten to twenty cents ; but a perfectly plain border- 
ing, in rich dark colors, very suitable for this style of 
papering, can be purchased for five cents a yard. 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 31 

But this plain tint for wall hangings is a matter of 
individual taste, and, if you prefer a figured paper, get 
a small, cheerful pattern on a very light ground for a 
room that does not enjoy much sunshine. And it is 
best to get rather a light pajoer where the room is 
sunny, for in winter the brightness is no objection, and 
in summer the room is kept partially darkened during 
the heat of the day. Decided greens and blues are very 
trying to the complexion. A very pretty style of 
figured paper is all of one color in different tints. But 
if this is of very light shades, it is apt to be character- 
less, and gives no relief to furniture and window hang- 
ings. Stiftiy designed figures, great bouquets, and wild 
and wandering patterns, on the other hand, possess en- 
tii^ely too much character. It is difficult, on the whole, 
to select figured paj)er that will altogether satisfy you 
after it is put on, and if you buy it solely with reference 
to its individual beauty, you are likely to be disap- 
pointed. You are to consider the effect of your walls 
as a whole, and not in detail ; and as much taste is 
needed in designing them as any part of the house 
furnishing. 

Gilded paper is inartistic, although for several years 
it h*ad the sanction of fashion, and is still used to some 
extent. Stripes add to the apparent height of a room, 
but are stiff and awkward, and the eye soon wearies of 
them. Be careful about the greens in wall papers, for 
many of them are colored with poisons. 

If your room has a chair-rail, the figured pa^Dcr should 
only be used above it. The same may be said of striped 
paper, unless it is in imitation of wood, in which case 
it can be used below with good effect. 

Panel-paper is formed on the walls by using plain- 



32 THE HOME. 

tint paper in stone colors, and paneling it with narrow 
bordering that is made for the purpose. This is an ex- 
pensive style, and is hardly suited to rooms of ordinary 
size ; but it is very pretty for the lower part of the wall, 
below the chair-rail, as a suggestion of wainscoting. 

The papers sold by paper-hangers as parlor grades 
are from one to three dollars a piece ; but satin paper 
of excellent quality can be bought for J&fty cents ; and 
we have seen very pretty walls hung with papers that 
only cost twenty cents a roll. 

In furnishing rented houses, the papering is not 
usually taken into consideration, as that is the business 
of the landlord. But, if you find an ugly paper on 
your parlor walls, do not let it stay there because the 
landlord refuses to re-paper, when you can have it done 
so cheaply. There is no need that you should be tor- 
mented day after day by an unsightly object. It will 
be better to replace it with one of inferior quality and 
pretty design, than to have the pleasant family room 
disfigured with a leaden colored wall, or a staring, 
straggling pattern, or some style that is tawdry and vul- 
gar in effect. 

Our best wall papers are French importations ; but 
the American papers are very good ; they last well, and 
are made in beautiful tints and designs. The worst 
that can be said of them is that they are not quite 
equal to the French. Some of them (and pretty ones) 
sell as low as twelve cents a roll. 

Wood hangings are much more beautiful than paper, 
and it is claimed that they are much more durable. 
Judging from the fact of their construction and their 
costliness, they should last a very long time ; but, 
being a comparatively recent invention, this point 



FURNISHING OF THE HOUSE. 33 

has not yet been properly tested. They make the most 
beautiful wall covering next to the still more costly 
painting and frescoing ; for the woods are not only 
beautiful in themselves, but in putting them on there is 
opportunity for the display of artistic taste in the pro- 
per selection of shades and colors, and in arranging 
designs for the paneling. Those who sell these hang- 
ings will send their workmen to put them up, if desired, 
but this is not necessary, as they are not more difficult 
to hang than paper. 

The prices of American woods range from one dollar 
to one and a half per thirty-six square feet, and the 
foreign woods are much more costly. The latter are 
not much used, except in getting up very elaborate de- 
signs, where they are arranged in centre-pieces and 
mouldings with fine effect. But these things can only 
be properly done by an expert, and are too ornate for 
anything but very magnificent mansions. The ordinary 
grades sold are in American woods, cut very thin, and 
backed with paper, on which the paste is spread. The 
paste is made expressly for this purpose, and sold with 
the wood. The paneling, made of very narrow strips 
of wood, is three or four cents a yard, and is tacked to 
the wall. 

Hangings of curled or bird's-eye maple, with panel- 
ings, and cornice of walnut, would be pretty for a par- 
lor ; chestnut and butternut for a dining-room ; and 
oak and walnut for halls and libraries. Walnut hang- 
ings should be used only in very large rooms. These 
woods can also be used plain, without the panels. Some 
are striped, walnut and maple, chestnut and oak, etc., 
but woods laid in this way seem more suitable for floors 
than halls. 



34: THE HOME. 

A great advantage tliat this wall covering possesses 
is that it can be washed as often as desirable without 
fear of injury. But, much as we admire it, we would 
not recommend that a whole house be hung with it at 
first. Better try it in one room, and see if it stands 
the tests of dampness, heat, and the various action of 
our changeful climate, for new things should be re- 
ceived with caution. 

These hangings are yet too costly too be generally 
used, but may be employed with kalsomined or papered 
walls to imitate a wainscot with the chair-rail for the 
upper moulding. 

The wainscoting proper costs a dollar a foot, and is 
three feet wide. It is made of thin wood, but much 
thicker than the hangings, is not backed with anything, 
and is tacked to the wall. It was made originally as 
an adjunct to the wood hangings but is now used with 
all styles of walls, and adds greatly to the richness and 
beauty of a room. 

Frescoed and painted walls will retain their beauty 
for many years, and can be washed and kept clean. 
In panels and pictorial designs they are very beautiful 
if well executed, but are, of course, very costly. The 
plain tints are very desirable for ordinary dwellings, 
and are not very exjDensive. But still they are more 
costly than papering, and painters can only be found 
in cities or large towns. 

After the walls are decorated to your taste, put 
something on them ; for bare walls, however pretty, 
need relief. Mirrors will at once suggest themselves. 
By all means get them, if you have the means. They 
add greatly to the handsome appearance of a parlor ; 
and two placed o^Dposite, will convert an insignificant 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 35 

room into quite a spacious apartment, apparently. 
Mantel mirrors too are beautiful in themselves, and in 
the effects they produce. But do not get cheap ones, 
for then your room will look poor and mean, in spite 
of all the care you may otherwise bestow upon it. 
Handsome mirrors are costly ornaments, and, unless 
you have a pretty large allowance for furnishing, you 
had better dismiss them from j^our mind for a year or 
two. If 3^ou have a choice between a mirror and pic- 
tures, choose the latter without hesitation. A fine 
painting will go much farther towards furnishing your 
parlor. True, the paintings are also costly ; but, fortu- 
nately, chromos, which reproduce them so faithfully, 
are within the reach of all. If you are not a judge of 
pictures, get a friend who has some knowledge in such 
matters to select your chromos and engravings, and 
do not fall into the mistake of thinking that one chromo 
will do as well as another, for some are nothing but 
daubs. And the same remark may be applied to 
paintings, and in their case, a high price is not an in- 
variable criterion of merit. 

It is not easy to give a scale of prices for pictures of 
any kind, as these depend upon so many contingencies, 
but good chromos of fine paintings may be bought 
in small and medium sizes, framed in gilt, as low as 
from $6.00 to $12.00. And here it may be said, en 
jyassant, that home-made frames of leather, pine-cones, 
etc., though they will do very well for engravings and 
photographs, when others cannot be obtained, do not 
suit chromos. Persons who know little about art ima- 
gine that if the picture be fine the frame is of small 
importance ; but artists will tell' you that the beauty of 
a picture depends very much upon the frame — not that 



36 THE HOME. 

it should be magnificent, but suitable. Let your chrome 
have some warm coloring about it, and, if it is a figure 
picture, be sure it is one that the eye will not weary of. 
Some most admirable paintings treat of such unpleasant 
subjects that they should be placed only in picture gal- 
leries. It is well for the mind sometimes to dwell upon 
the heroism of martyrs, but to have the reminder con- 
stantly before our eyes is not agreeable, and far from 
being improving. The same may be said of death- 
bed scenes and battle pieces, both of which are favor- 
ite subjects, if we may judge by the frequency with 
which they appear on parlor walls. 

Besides the chromo, have one or two fine engravings 
if possible. You need not get very costly ones, and 
they can be glazed and framed in pretty rustic frames 
tor a small sum. 

Don't put dabs of card photographs about on your 
walls, or dispose of them in groups, or let them be seen 
at all, except when the leaves of your album are 
opened. 

There are other things besides pictures for adorning 
walls and giving beauty to a room. Two or three 
brackets with a little statuette, or vase of artistic de- 
sign, or flower vase on them. Perhaps one somewhere 
from which trails a vine. Brackets may be purchased 
at almost any price, from seventy-five cents to ten dol- 
lars, and more ; and very pretty vases, statuettes, and 
a variety of fancy things can be got at small expense. 

And, while speaking of ornaments, we must not for- 
get those very beautiful and graceful things, hanging 
baskets. These can often be made of materials at 
hand, at no expense whatever. And there are also 
ilower-stands, aquariums, Wardian cases, etc., which 



FURNISHING THE HOME. 37 

can be made by some ingenious member of the family, 
or by a neighboring cabinetmaker, at a small cost. 

The following is the best way to get these little 
"fancies." If you have a thousand dollars with which 
to furnish your house, go over the price-list you have 
made out for the different rooms, and strike out here 
and there some article that is of small account, and 
make up your mind that on this or that thing you 
will expend a little less money, and be satisfied with 
something less pretentious. You will find that in this 
way you will get a neat little sum for ornamenting your 
rooms without sacrificing anything useful. 

Before casting our eyes down to the floor, we will 
furnish the windows. If the house has been built un- 
der your own directions, of course these have inside 
shutters, (or blinds.) But if they have them not, you 
will, first of all, need shades, even if you have outside 
shutters. Very many housekeepers use only shades ; 
some because they think curtains must necessarily be 
costly ; some because of the trouble of packing away 
woolen curtains in summer, or '* doing up " washable 
materials; and others because "curtains only gather 
dust." To -the first class we say that they labor under 
a mistake ; to the second, that we cannot have any- 
thing that is very desirable unless we are willing to 
take some trouble ; and to the third that careful ma- 
nagement will prevent the evil they dread, and, more- 
over, that to be consistent they should take up all their 
carpets, for it is impossible to find a more indefatigable 
dust-gatherer than a carpet. If shades are the only 
hangings for the windows, they should be the painted 
shades in solid colors with borders. Those with figures 
and landscapes on them are in bad taste. The bor- 



38 THE HOME. 

dered shades sell at from two dollars upward, with patent 
rollers. Dark blues and stone colors are popular hues 
in these shades, but they throw, when drawn down, a 
most dispiriting gloom over the apartment. Light 
stone-colors, buff, and shades in fancy browns are the 
most desirable, and, when purchasing, remember the 
color of carpet and walls, and do not get a violent con- 
trast. If, however, you are going to hang curtains 
or lambrequins over them, let the shades be of 
Scotch Holland linen. You can buy these ready- 
made, or make them yourself. The linen can be pur- 
chased, yard wide, for thirty cents a yard. The rollers 
and slats of wood for the bottom, slides, cord, and tas- 
sels will also be needed. These fixtures and trimmings 
cost from forty to seventy-five cents a window. Be 
exact in your measurements, and make and hang them 
carefully. The patent rollers are much more handy 
than the cords and slides, and last a long time, whereas 
the fixtures in common use soon get out of order. The 
patent rollers cost one dollar apiece. White is the 
best color for these shades, and the trimmings should 
be selected in reference to the general coloring of the 
room. Blue fades sooner than any other color. 

And, in this connection, we beg of you not to tie the 
tassels up in little muslin or knitted bags in order to 
preserve the color. They will not fade for some time, 
and faded tassels, which only show that the inmates of 
the room care more for the blessed sunlight than for 
their fifty cent tassels, look far better than these vulgar 
little bags. 

In furnishing a room, curtains are of the first im- 
portance. Better get a Brussels instead of a velvet 
carpet, or an Ingrain in place of a Brussels, than to 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 39 

have yoiir windows bare of curtains. Without them a 
room filled with furniture looks unfinished, and with 
them a poorly-finished parlor gains something of grace 
and style. 

Woolen reps are much used for curtains in winter. 
They are from two to four dollars a yard ; and, if put 
up by an upholsterer, from twenty to forty dollars a 
window. Their heavy folds are rich and elegant, and 
they add greatly to the warmth and cosiness of rooms 
with a cold exposure. But they also help to darken the 
room, and to make a short winter day seem still shor- 
ter. Kooms that are lived in, unless quite large, will be 
more pleasant with w^indow hangings of lighter mate- 
rials. 

Silk curtains are only suitable for very handsomely 
furnished apartments ; should be made and put up by 
an upholsterer ; and wall cost sixty dollars and upward 
for each window. 

Lambrequins are now almost universally used, and, 
when gracefully dra]Ded over curtains of the same or 
corresponding material, increase the beauty of the effect. 
But the plain, stiffly-scalloped, heavy woolen lambre- 
quins, without a fold or festoon to break their rigid 
exactness, that so frequently we see hung over shades 
or lace curtains, are ugly in the extreme, and the two 
materials put together in that way are as well suited to 
each other as a merino basque is to a lace over-skirt. 

Lace is the most beautiful, graceful, airy, and light of all 
curtain material, and looks equally well with the matting, 
and chintz covered furniture of summer, and with the 
warm colored carpets, and heavy furnishing of winter. 
Real lace can be bought now of fine quality and hand- 
some styles, from eighteen to twenty-five doUars a yard, 



40 THE HOME. 

although there are certain styles that sell at " fancy " 
prices. It is not as much used now as formerly, even 
among the wealthy, because the Nottingham laces of 
the present day are so fine, soft, and fleecy that it is 
difficult to tell them from the real laces, and the designs 
on them are generally much more elaborate and beau- 
tiful. The prices range from one dollar and a half to 
fifteen dollars a yard. Those at the first named price 
are very pretty, and not " cheap-looking ;" and quite 
handsomfe curtains can be bought at from three to five 
dollars per yard. The difficulty of doing up lace cur- 
tains and preserving that soft fleeciness which is their 
chief beauty, interferes with their popularity. In cities 
they are usually sent to persons who make it their busi- 
ness, but this is rather expensive, and, in the country, 
impossible. But you can do them up to look like new 
ones if you know how, and are careful.* 

You can have very pretty and graceful parlor cur- 
tains (and these are especially suited to country homes) 
at a very small expense, by buying a sufficient quantity 
of Swiss muslin, at fifty cents a yard, and a few yards 
of heavy silk cord. In measuring your windows, re- 
member that the curtains should fall to the floor, and 
allow a little for looping back. Get a couple of extra 
yards, or more if necessarj^, for the lambrequin, and 
loop it with cords in some graceful fashion. Also loop 
the curtain back, at about three feet above the floor. 

The following design of a Nottingham lace curtain 
that we lately saw, was artistic and graceful ; and ele- 
gant without being suggestive of costliness. 

Over the lace curtain, hung in the usual . fashion, was 
a lambrequin of the finest kind of chintz, called satine^ 

* Directions for doing up lace curtains will be found on page 147. 



FURNISHING THE HOME. 41 

with the lace laid plainly over it. This softened the 
figures and colors of the chintz without making them 
less distinct. Across the bottom of this was a cotton 
fringe, two inches deep, corresponding in color with the 
satine. The lambrequin was then drawn up to hang in 
heavy folds over the curtain. This style, including cor- 
nice of nice finish and moderate width, cost eighteen 
dollars a window. 

If you live in an old-fashioned house, where there is 
a wide space between the top of the window and the 
ceiling, you will find lambrequins very useful to hang 
above the windows, in which case, of course, the mate- 
rial must be heavy enough to conceal the wall. The 
cornice can then be placed high, and the curtains made 
as long as for larger windows. 

Cornices are of gilt, or walnut and gilt. Both styles 
sell at the same prices, from three and a half to seven 
dollars apiece, ordinarily ; although they run up as high 
as twenty-five dollars. 

The j)atent extension cornices are of two kinds : the 
Adjustable, which may be made to fit any window by a 
little unscrewing and altering ; and the Telescope, 
which can be fitted to a window by drawing it in or out 
like a telescope. These. are from five and a half to fif- 
teen dollars apiece. 

Carpets, being the most expensive articles in house- 
furnishing, should be selected with great carefulness as to 
quality, that they may last long ; and as to pattern, that 
it be not such as will soon become wearisome to the 
eyes. 

Medallion carpets, large figures, bouquets of flowers, 
geometrical designs, baskets of roses, stripes, are all un- 
desirable. Any "set" figure becomes tiresome. The 



42 THE HOME. 

light carpets, of pearl and stone colors, with gay bor- 
ders, that are now so fashionable, admit of any style or 
coloring of furniture, and harmonize with all the de- 
sirable hues for walls and windows, while the figures of 
the same shade woven into them are scarcely notice- 
able. But it is of doubtful expediency to buy a carjDet 
of so very decided a style, as it will look bizarre as 
soon as the fashion passes away. A bordered carpet 
makes a room look smaller than it is. Scrolls, small 
interlaced figures, a tracery of vines, or an arabesque 
pattern (if not large and spreading) are desirable because 
they do not obtrude themselves upon our notice, and 
therefore remain in favor for years. The latter, with its 
graceful lines and figures, without beginning or end, 
cannot well become tiresome. If a gay floor covering 
is desired, there is nothing more beautiful than the Per- 
sian carpets, where the richest colors run riot in a lovely 
confusion, without ever becoming glaring or obtrusive. 

As you select your window hangings or trimmings 
with reference to the coloring of your carpet, so your 
carpet should be chosen to harmonize with your furni- 
ture-covering. If you have fixed your fancy upon hair 
cloth, or very dark colored rep, your carpet should be 
gay to relieve the sombre effect. If, on the contrary, 
your furniture-covering is gay, the carpet should be 
toned down to quite a dark effect. For the medium 
colors generally used for furnishing, the medium shades 
are most suitable on the floor, and, in this case, as also 
in that of the gay furniture, a carpet with one prevail- 
ing tint is the prettiest. Browns offer a fine relief to 
green, blue, or crimson, only, in the case of the latter, 
they should not be red browns. It is not advisable to 
have in your carpet a great deal of white for a room 



FURNISHING THE HOME. 43 

that is much used ; and, on the other hand, a very 
dark carpet " shows the dh't," as housekeepers say, quite 
as soon as a Hght one. 

Of carpet material we have a great variety, both for- 
eign and of home manufacture. We make carpets here 
in nearly all the grades that are imj^orted, and those of 
standard manufacture are very good indeed, and are 
durable, although not quite equal to the foreign, on ac- 
count of the inferiority of our dyes. Any one outside 
of the trade would find it difficult to decide between an 
American Ingrain of the best quality and an English. 
Whatever material you decide upon, let it be good of 
its kind, for cheap carpets are poor economy. Tapes- 
try, backed with hemp, will soon wear threadbare, and 
Ingrain which you can almost see daylight through when 
you hold it up, or which is woven with cotton chain, 
will not wear long enough to pay for the trouble of 
making and putting it down. A carpet should be 
thick, closely woven, soft and pliable. Wilton and 
English Brussels are considered the most durable of 
all carpet materials, but they are too costly for common 
use, and a good Three-ply or Ingrain will last a very 
long time with moderate care. 

The following is a list of the grades of carpeting 
usually called for, with the ordinary prices per yard : 

English Brussels $2.50 

Wilton, (which is cut Brussels) 4.00 

EngUsh Tapestry 1.35 to 1.50 

Velvet, (which is cut Tapestry) 3.00 

Three-i^ly 1.95 

English Ingrain 1.75 

American Ingrain 1.25 to 1.50 

French Axminster 3.00 to 6.00 



44 THE HOME. 



English Asminster 4.00 to 6.00 

American Axminster 3.00 to 5.00 



For the room we are considering, either EngHsh 
Brussels, Three-ply, or English Ingrain is suitable ; 
Tapestry is not serviceable enough. In the city it will 
be best, perhaps, to have Brussels, but it is not .a neces- 
sity even there. Ingrain, with pretty window hangings, 
pictures, and ornaments, will make the room look more 
attractive than Brussels with accompanying destitution ; 
and your friends, in their admiration of the general 
tasteful arrangement, will overlook the enormity of an 
Ingrain carpet. 

In a country parlor, Three-ply and Ingrain are the 
rule instead of the exceptions, and therefore you will 
excite no surprise by laying one of these on your floor. 
Do not be too ambitious, then, to have Brussels, if you 
value your peace of mind, for mud and dust are some- 
times inevitable, and you will frequently groan in spirit 
over your expensive carpet. The Ingrain is easily 
swept, can be taken up and shaken without very great 
trouble, and can be " turned " when the right side be- 
gins to look the worse for wear, whereas a Brussels car- 
pet loses its beauty as soon as the surface is worn. 

Carpet lining should be placed under yoar carpet, as 
it will last much longer if put down in this way. This 
is made of fine wool, laid between layers of paper, 
stretched or quilted. It is moth proof. It is fifteen 
cents a yard, and is yard wide. 

One or two gay rugs, if the carpet be sober-colored, 
or sober ones if gay-colored, give artistic points of 
color and effect to the room. 

In the spring, carpets should be taken up, well shaken 



FURNISHING THE HOME. 45 

and beaten, (but not banged,) the dust should be beaten 
out of the hnings, the latter rolled around the carpets, 
and the whole sewed up in coarse linen, and put away 
in a dry place until the autumn. 

It is not desirable to have carpets on the floor in 
summer. They get filled with dast, they add much to 
the warmth of a room, and if there is any taint in the 
air, the woolen carpet is apt to seize upon and hold it. 
Some writers on health contend that they should never 
be used, for sanitary reasons. But in our country, and 
certainly in those States where we have such bitter cold 
weather, carpets, or something similar, will probably be 
used for all time in the winter season, not only for the 
warmth they actually impart, but for the feehng of cosy 
comfort that their very appearance suggests. • But in 
summer we need something cooler, and that is not so 
retentive of dust and floating exhalations. 

Matting is the most popular floor covering for sum- 
mer. Serviceable Canton matting, of coarse texture, 
can be bought as low as thirty-five cents a yard, and a 
very good quality for fifty-five. These are a yard wide. 
Other widths are a yard and a quarter, and a yard and 
a half, with prices in proportion. Narrow matting, less 
than a yard, being scarce, is higher priced. 

The custom, that many persons follow, of tacking the 
breadths of matting to the floor, spoils the floor and is 
destructive to the matting. Every tack driven in and 
pulled out breaks at least one straw. These Canton 
mattings are made on boats, and they are woven to- 
gether in pieces two yards long. These short pieces 
are joined together on the shore into lengths of forty 
yards. Now, where these two-yard pieces are joined 
they should be sewed across and across, to keep the 



46 THE HOME. 

joints from opening. Then sew the breadths together, 
and tack it to the floor in the same way that you treat 
a carpet. Mattings made in this way will last fully 
twice as long as where they are tacked in every breadth 
A good matting should last six or seven years. 

Although matting is so popular, some families do 
not like it at all. Within the last few years a disposi- 
tion to return to the bare floors of our ancestors — at 
least for the summer — has manifested itself, and many 
new houses are laid with handsome floorings to pre- 
vent the necessity of covering them with matting. This 
has given rise to the invention of Wood Carpet- 
ing for the benefit of those whose houses are already 
built with floors that are scarcely presentable. This is 
made of well-seasoned and kiln-dried hard woods, cut 
into strips one and an eighth to one and three eighths 
inches wide, and a quarter of an inch thick, and glued 
on to heavy cotton drill. The wood is then planed 
and oiled. It rolls up like an oil-cloth ; can be sent 
anywhere, and can be laid by any good carpentei\ It 
is nailed down with one and a quarter finishing nails. 
It can be put down to look like ordinary flooring of 
one kind of fine wood, or laid with fancy designs, cen- 
tre-pieces, etc., patterns for which will be furnished, if 
desired. 

It is claimed for this carpeting that it is insect proof; 
that it is so tight the dust cannot penetrate it, and that 
it is so thin it does not interfere with door sills, hearth, 
register, etc., and also that it will last a very long time. 
But as it has been used only some three or four 
years, this last point cannot have been satisfactorily 
tested. 

The standard goods in wood carpeting are plain 



FURNISHING THE HOME. 47 

straight strips of one wood alone, such as Ash, Oak, 
or Walnut, or alternate strips of different woods. These 
(yard wide) sell at two dollars a yard. The fancy 
styles sell by the square foot, from fifty cents to one 
dollar and a quarter. 

Handsome borders in various widths and styles, such 
as Gothic, Grecian, Eope, Chain, etc., are also manu- 
factured. The usual widths are from five to ten inches, 
and sell from twenty to sixty cents a foot. 

Having fastened down our floor-covering, we will 
move in the furniture. A parlor suit, as sold at the 
furniture warerooms, consists of a sofa, one large easy- 
chair, and one smaller, and four ordinary chairs. Such 
a suit oi solid walnut, plainly finished, covered with 
good all-wool rep, with upholstered seats and backs 
for the easy-chairs, and upholstered seats for the other 
chairs, can be bought as low as eighty-five dollars. One 
with a little finer finish, and more ornamentation, for 
one hundred dollars. A hundred and fifty dollars will 
buy quite a handsome suit, inlaid with French walnut 
and with ebony mouldings. The lowest price for silk 
rep covering about three hundred dollars a suit. 

These suits will be varied at the option of the pur- 
chaser, and it will be well to decline the four chairs, 
which are never pretty and generally uncomfortable, 
and substitute two light reception-chairs, a sewing- 
chair, and one other of fancy straw, or any kind you 
like. A room furnished with only the regulation suit 
looks stiff, and unhomelike. Beside these there is a 
great variety of easy^chairs, rocking-chairs, (both Ame- 
rican and Kussian,) window chairs, tete-a-tetes, lounge 
chairs, etc., etc., from which to make a further selec- 
tion, if your plan allow. A sewing-chair is included in 



48 THE HOME. 

the above list because our room is both, parlor and sit- 
ting-room. Where the room is used only for company 
it will, of course, be omitted. 

Furniture upholstered with hair cloth comes at the 
same prices as the rep. But this sombre, shining, 
slippery stuff, is, happily, nearly out of fashion. Woolen 
reps are most used for chair and sofa coverings, and the 
different qualities range from about two to four dollars 
a yard ; and the silk reps from six to eight dollars. For 
costly coverings there are brocatelle, satin and velvet. 
In a state apartment chintzes are inadmissible, except 
for summer use, but in this home room the beautiful 
chintzes now manufactured will be very desirable, and - 
are peculiarly appropriate in the country. They are 
from thirty-five cents to a dollar and a quarter a yard, 
and are seen in every possible design, from the most 
delicate flowers, and gracefully swinging vines, to the 
shepherd, dog, and crook under the sjDreading trees, 
and his sheep sleeping on the hill-side ; enormous 
bunches of flowers, gorgeous birds, and the fattest 
Cupids in impossible attitudes. These pictures and 
huge flowers are revivals of the styles in which our 
grandmothers delighted, and which have come down to 
us in bed-quilts and stray scraps. The higher priced 
of these goods, called cretoanes and satines, are finely 
finished ; the latter have a gloss like satin. 

In woolen rejDS green and crimson are the best colors 
for wear ; and there are beautiful shades in brown 
that wear very well. Blue fades very soon. The 
striped reps make handsome coverings for a single chair, 
but not for a whole suit. It is not necessary to cover 
all the articles of furniture with the same color ; a lit- 
tle variety gives a more pleasing effect ; only be careful 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 49 

that you select colors that look well together. If the 
carpet be very gay, however, it is better taste not to 
vary much the coloring of the furniture. 

A. ceutre-table adds to the home-look of a room, and 
is, indeed, a necessity where the family gatherings are 
held. Walnut tables with marble tops range from 
sixteen to thirty -five dollars, according to size of table 
and kind of marble. But a much cheaper table of 
painted wood will look quite as attractive with a pretty 
cover on it, and a lamp, with its softly-shaded evening 
light, inviting readers and workers. 

A' lounge is a very comfortable thing to have in your 
sitting-room, only don't have it too handsome to be 
lounged on. 

A corner Etagere, or What Not, will cost from five to 
eight dollars ; a side Etagere from twelve to sixteen. 
These are sometimes used as book-shelves, instead of 
receptacles for knick-knacks, where a book-case is un- 
attainable. 

The latter, or some substitute, is almost a necessity 
in our parlors when there is no library. They are ex- 
pensive articles — a very plain one, indeed, costing twenty 
dollars, and desirable styles ranging from thirty to 
sixty-five. A handsome style of book-case is a low one, 
about four and a half feet high, with a flat top, on which 
is placed a bust or vase. These are about the same 
prices as the others. If there is a recess in the room, a 
very passable book-case may be manufactured by em- 
ploying a cabinet-maker to construct a framework of 
shelves, of walnut or stained wood, that can be set into 
the recess without injuring the walls. The doors must 
be simply frames for the glass, the panes of which 
should be large ; tack inside, on the framework around 



50 THE HOME. 

the glass, woolen or silk stuff, laid in plaits, or gath- 
ered up in the centre, and finished with a rosette of the 
same. 

Where there are two communicating rooms, it is best 
to furnish them alike, and use them in the same way. 
But some prefer to furnish one for a parlor and the 
other for a sitting-room, throwing open the doors, or 
closing them at pleasure ; and this is a convenient ar- 
rangement often in cities, where calls are more fre- 
quently made than visits. When this is done the win- 
dow hangings should be the same in both rooms, and 
the furniture so ordered, as to material, coloring, etc., 
that the two rooms will not put each other out of coiln- 
tenance. 

In the summer you will wish to keep the room par- 
tially darkened during the glare and heat of the day, 
and when flies and dust are waiting for admittance. 
But use discretion, and do not make it so dark that your 
eyes are injured by straining them over your work, and 
your visitors announce their entrance by running up 
against the sofa, or falling over a footstool. In the 
winter let in the sunlight freely. You will all thrive on 
it. Of course this will, in time, fade the most durably 
colored carpet, but seasons will pass before this becomes 
noticeable, and an old carj)et that is faded is not half 
as suggestive of poverty of purse, and narrowness of 
living, as an old one that is " as bright as new. " 

Such a room can easily be kept free from dirt, dust, 
and cobwebs ; but some disorder, and what housekeep- 
ers call " litter," there must necessarily be in one that 
is so much used. But you need not worry on this ac- 
count, for a little comfortable disorder is often much 
more sensible than stiff, unyielding neatness. 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 51 

This is the room for all your household gods, so you 
can have in it your Httle work-table, with your sewing 
materials, and the fancy work-basket, containing the 
bright colored wools, or delicate embroidery. Perhaps 
there is a chess table, a backgammon board, or box of 
parlor croquet. Your cat curls up on the rug ; your 
bird sings in its cage by the window ; the gold-fish 
dart about within their little glass prisons ; there are 
flowers here and there, if only a rose on the mantel- 
piece, or a hyacinth opening its perfumed blossoms to 
the sunlight on the window-sill. 

A visitor ushered into such a room, at once feels at 
home. A cordial welcome greets him in the very air. 
It is emphatically the " house-place," and the home life 
is all around, and suggests topics for interesting and 
friendly talk. It is all so very different from stiffly sit- 
ting in a twilight room, where there is a faint glimmer 
of white and gold, and a delusive sheen of satin and 
velvet, and where the hostess sits with idle hands, her 
heart with her family, her thoughts in her work-basket, 
and her conversation of the weather, and the gossip of 
society. No wonder that a half hour is considered a 
monstrous allowance for such visits as these. 

And, when money has become plentiful, and you have 
added to the modest little home a library, picture gal- 
lery, music hall, state bedrooms, and magnificent suits of 
elegantly furnished parlors, don't fail to keep such a 
" house-place " for your family and old friends, and the 
new ones who are worthy of such distinction. 

THE BEDEOOM. 

It is unnecessary to repeat here what has been already 
said, when speaking of the parlors, in regard to the vari- 



52 THE HOME. 

ous advantages of painted walls, and wood and paper 
hangings. The same remarks apply equally well to bed- 
rooms, and the reader is referred to the parlor for all 
general information on such topics ; only it may be well 
to offer the suggestion that, next to the white-washed 
wall, (which is entirely out of date,) in sweetness and 
cleanliness, must be placed the painted wall, and there- 
fore it is peculiarly adapted to a sleeping apartment. 
But paint is too expensive for a rented house, and even 
in one's own house is not always easy to obtain. 

Beside the wall papers that are sold for all rooms in 
common, some are designed especially for bedrooms. 
For those who like a bright, gaily-colored apartment, 
the cretonne is recommended. Being new in design 
and fashionable, it is high-priced, being one dollar a 
piece, and one dollar and a half for the gilded. But 
those who buy fancy hangings must expect to re-paper 
often, for a striking design that seems to us beautiful 
while in fashion, is hideous in our eyes as soon as the 
fashion passes. 

With these gay papers the window-hangings should 
be of chintz, of coloring and design that blends har- 
moniously with the wall, but not like it, for we do not 
wish to see precisely the same things wherever we turn 
our eyes. White hangings are much used with this 
paper, but the contrast is too violent to be altogether 
in good taste, and, if used, they should be of lace. The 
carpet must be of one color, soft in tone — for instance, 
mouse color, with a darker border relieved by rich 
colors in Grecian or Arabesque pattern. White mat- 
ting might be laid for summer use. The bed-spread 
may be white or colored, according to fancy. The fur- 
niture should be of light-colored wood, finely varnished 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. b6 

— maple is the prettiest — and of a design that is 
gracetai rather than heavy. The easy-chair may be 
covered with crimson silk. A cool-toned picture, tho 
subject to be suggestive of pleasant thoughts, to be hung 
on the wall. 

Such a room, half bedroom, half boudoir, would, 
from its brightness and variety, be suitable for a 
chronic invalid. It could be furnished in cheaper stjde 
with light yellow cottage furniture ; chair covered with 
crimson cotton, and embroidered carpet of mouse color, 
or soft brown with a tracery of delicate vines. 

The more fortunate beings who are not compelled to 
stay so much in their bedrooms generally prefer a less 
brilliant arrangement. Some go so far into the other 
extreme that their rooms are staring and glaring with 
lightness and whiteness. Because a bedroom should be 
light rather than dark, it does not follow that carpet, 
curtains, walls and bed should be as white as possible. 
We need some variety of coloring in a bedroom as well 
as elsewhere, and, while it is desirable that it should 
look " cDol " half the year, it is quite as desirable that it 
should not look chilly the other half. 

For the walls, the plain-tint paper is the prettiest. 
Figured papers in various styles, widths, and quality, 
are from twelve cents to three dollars a roll, and bor- 
dering from three to twenty cents a yard. Where there 
is such infinite variety it is sometimes harder to select 
than when we are limited to very few. For very de- 
cided coloring, the lighter yellows — buflf, maize, amber, 
and corn-color — or violet, are the least intrusive, and 
next the blues, and pinks. But a delicate tint is to be 
preferred for the ground-work of the paper, and in 
this case pink is the most desirable, as it diffuses a 



54 THE HOME. 

glow over tlie white hangings, and white bed-cover- 
ing ; next cream-color, and then a delicate lilac. The 
light stone-colors are pretty in themselves, but too 
negative for a room with white furnishings. White is 
undesirable, and a decided green is inadmissible. Some 
of the very light, undecided tints in green are lovely ; 
but it is a color that it is not safe to recommend on 
account of the poisonous dyes that are sometimes (but 
not always) used in its manufacture. 

A chair-rail of oak or maple, Georgia pine, or even 
common pine, oiled and varnished, will be a pretty ad- 
dition to the walls, with reddish brown paper below and 
blush-color above, or any other arrangement of colors 
that the situation of the room and other considerations 
may suggest. 

If the paper is buff, Holland shades of the same 
color will be prettiest for the windows, otherwise have 
white. The tassels of these must be chosen with re- 
ference to the general coloring of the room. 

Bedroom curtains may be of Nottingham lace, Swiss 
muslin, chintz, or dimity. The latter is now rarely 
used. We have seen in country places quite pretty 
bedroom curtains made of Wamsutta muslin, bordered 
with chintz, or bright striped calico, or trimmed with 
white cotton fringe, which were certainly better than 
having no curtains at all. But chintz hangings at 
thirty-five cents a yard, are almost as cheap as these ; 
and lovely chintzes can be 'bought at from fifty to 
seventy-five cents. Extremely bright-colored ones are 
not tasteful, unless with an exceptional style of fur- 
nishing like that previously mentioned, but neither 
should the colors be pale. 

Chintz curtains can be made with or without lambre- 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 55 

quins. These should be of the same material, and 
trimmed, if at all, with ruffles, or with cotton fringe ; 
as this is of suitable texture, and will wash. For loop- 
ing these curtains back, make a broad band of the 
chintz, interline with wigan, or something stiff, and 
trim each edge with a narrow plaited or gathered 
ruffle ; or with fringe, if the lambrequin is trimmed 
with it. 

The white curtains should be looped with silk or 
woolen cords, and tassels are a pretty addition. 

"Woolen hangings should never be used in bedrooms, 
or woolen upholstery of any kind. 

Either walnut or gilt cornices are suitable for any of 
these curtains. Very good ones can be bought for three 
dollars. Imitations of gilt cornices are very poor 
affairs, but the walnut can be imitated quite successfully 
by procuring from a neighboring carpenter a suitable 
pine moulding, tacking end pieces to it, and staining 
with black walnut stain. Sometimes these mouldings 
are covered with gaily-figured, or plain, dark jDaper, and 
look very well in a bedroom with chintz curtains, though 
not as well as the stained wood. 

Light colors and small figures make the prettiest bed- 
room carpets. Here a good deal of white is allowable. 
English or American Ingrains are the most serviceable. 
For summer matting you can have white or green and 
white, or red and white. Wood carpeting is especially 
to be commended for sleeping-rooms on account of its 
freedom from dust, and should be of light woods. In 
whatever rooms wood carpeting is used, rugs should be 
laid about freely. With a carpet lay a rug in front of 
the bureau, and an oil-cloth in front of the wash-stand. 

A fuU suit of bedroom furniture consists of ten pieces, 



56 THE HOME. 

bedstead, bureau,- wasli-stand, towel-rack, small table, 
five chairs, and rocking-chair. These are the low and 
medium priced suits. The more costly ones vary some- 
what in number and kind. Wardrobes are made to 
order, and not included in the regular suits ; but in a 
large furnishing establishment it is easy to find a ward- 
robe to match any ordinary style. 

You can buy a suit of solid walnut, without towel- 
rack, plainly finished in a neat style, as low as sixty-five 
dollars, or one in the same style, but with marble tops 
on bureau and washstand, for sevent^^-five. Another 
style of ten pieces includes a small table with a marble 
top, also washstand and bureau with marble, and 
sells for ninety-five dollars ; a handsomer suit, but with- 
out table, one hundred dollars ; and a suit of finer 
finish, and with French walnut panels, one hundred 
and twenty-five ; and so on up to almost any price. 

Oak furniture ranges at about the same prices as the 
walnut. Chestnut, with walnut finishings, can be got 
in very pretty styles, from fifty-five to seventy-five dol- 
lars. The maple woods are generally very finely 
finished, and are more costly in the same styles. 

In the higher priced suits, a new style of dressing- 
case is sometimes substituted for the bureau. In these 
the looking-glass extends to the floor, with ornamental 
wood- work on each side of the recess thus formed. 
Sometimes this is in fancy designs — Egyptian obelisks, 
etc. — but more frequently is fitted with small drawers 
for the reception of toilet articles. This style will be 
preferred by those who are furnishing with regard to 
beauty and fine effect, and who can dispense with the 
bureau drawers. These suits sell at two hundred and 
fifty dollars and upward. 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 57 

The oiled furniture does not compare in beauty with 
the finely-pohshed woods, but these are costly, and the 
low-priced varnished furniture is undesirable in every 
way. The oiled walnut deserves the high degree of 
favor it enjoys. It is pretty ; can be easily kept clean; 
does not show scratches readily ; and, when it begins 
to look dim, its beauty can be renewed without ex- 
pense.* 

The style of furniture known as " cottage " is thought 
by many to be in bad taste ; and there was very good 
ground for this opinion in its early days, when it first 
became fashionable, for it was too often poorly fin- 
ished, rough in design, and tawdry in coloring. But 
now it is well made, and more artistically painted. It 
is prettier and more desirable than the pine furniture, 
stained in imitation of the costly woods. It can be 
bought, or ordered, in any color that you fancy ; but 
French grey, the light stone colors, and soft browns 
will furnish a room in better taste than the blues, 
greens, and yellows that have been the rule until re- 
cently. The prices range from thirty-five dollars a suit 
to one hundred.. Ten dollars additional will furnish 
the first named with ordinary white marble tops for the 
bureau and washstand, which are desirable, not only 
for the increased beauty, but for durability, as the 
wooden tops soon become scratched and stained. 

The little cane rocking-chair that accompanies bed- 
room suits is very well ; but its five stiff companion chairs 
can be dispensed with to advantage. You had better 
get a comfortably stuffed easy-chair, in which you can 
lounge. Let it be covered with something- — not woolen 



* Directions on page 149. 



58 THE HOME. 

— that will correspond with your carpet and hangings. 
Or you can buy an uncovered one, and cover it yourself 
with chintz like the curtains. Or your country cabinet- 
maker will manufacture one that will not cost much ; 
will, doubtless, be rather clumsy, but will be easy, and 
can be made to look very well. These two chairs, with 
a couple of ottomans, will probably be all the seats you 
will desire, as we do not usually entertain visitors in 
our bedrooms. 

The toilet-table, that was once considered a necessary 
addition to every bedroom, has vanished into remote 
country places. And yet it is a beautiful and graceful 
piece of furniture, and redeems a modern bedroom 
from that stiffness that is too apt to be its characteris- 
tic. Those made to set into corners are not recom- 
mended. They entirely lack the artistic effect of the 
larger table with straight back, and semicircular front, 
that should be placed in a prominent position. These 
can be clad in the simple drapery of white Swiss muslin 
and glazed cambric ; or in the costly attire of satins 
and laces. 

Have a light table, made of ordinary pine wood, the 
top semicircular in front, and straight at the back. It 
must be made so as to stand firmly, but must also be 
easy to lift ; for one advantage of these tables is that they 
can be carried about the room and placed wherever 
the light is best. It should be about three feet high, 
and thirty inches across the straight part. 

Tack around this blue, rose-colored, or amber cam- 
bric, or any hue that matches or harmonizes with the 
prevailing tone of the room. Make it a little full at the 
corners. Get sheer white muslin, Swiss or French ; 
allow fullness enough for it to fall in soft and graceful 



FURNISHING OF THE HOUSE. 59 

folds, without there being enough of it to " stiiiid out " 
around the bottom, or look " bunchy " at the top ; hem 
the top and bottom ; and gather it below the upper 
hem. With the sewing-machine stitch these gathers 
firmly to linen tape, laid under them. 

Around the edge of the table tack thick cotton tape, 
or a strij) of cotton cloth on which you have previously 
sewed dress hooks at convenient distances apart, with 
the hooks upward. On the tape of the valance sew 
little loops corresponding with these hooks. The val- 
ance can then be easily removed for washing, and put 
on again w4ien clean. 

For the top make a cushion half an inch or less in 
thickness by quilting together pieces of old calico. Over 
this spread your cambric, and over this again your 
muslin, turning the edges under the calico cushion, and, 
in the case of the muslin, tack it so lightly with needle 
and thread that it can be readily taken o& for washing. 
Lay this on the table, and tack in three or four places 
with tin tacks to keep it from slii3ping. These will be 
concealed by the standing ruffle of the valance. Or a 
silk cord of the color of the cambric could be run 
around the edge of the table under the valance ruffie. 
Or the valance could be made without the little ruffle 
on the top, and a wide muslin ruffle sew^ed on the 
cushion so as to fall over the edge of the table. This 
is the prettier style, but more trouble. 

A pin-cushion should be made of the same material. 

A small mirror, with a small-hinged prop at the back, 
will complete tlic furnishing. Or you can have a prop 
fastened on the back of a common looking-glass. The 
frame can be entirely concealed by drapery of muslin 
caught back with cords, or tied with ribbon. 



60 THE HOME. 

A toilet set of plain white cliina of thirteen pieces will 
cost seven dollars and a half, and a set of stone china 
about five dollars. The former is the most desirable, as 
it looks well as long as it lasts, while the glazing wears 
off the latter after a time. A Japanese toilet set, includ- 
ing water-carrier, foot-tub and slop-jar, will cost four 
dollars. 

One or two attractive pictures are particularly de- 
sirable for a bedroom, as there growing plants are en- 
tirely out of the question, and even cut flowers are un- 
welcome unless inodorous. The only desirable fragrance 
in a bedroom is that imparted by perfect cleanliness, 
and by pure, sweet air ; with, perhaps, a faint breath of 
lavender in the sheets. 

We have arrived at the bedding last, and yet it is 
first in importance, surely, in a room which is set apart 
for sleeping. To begin at the foundation — various 
kinds of springs, noiseless, elastic and durable, can be 
bought for from five to eight dollars. It is not easy to 
tell which of these various patents is the best. One is 
desirable for one thing, and one for another. Bat two 
things may be definitely said : first, that good springs 
are better than any kind of sacking, slats, or under bed ; 
and, secondly, when buying springs you should ex- 
amine them to see if you can easily get at every part to 
clean them, otherwise they will only prove harbors for 
vermin. Spring mattresses should never be used. 

The most comfortable bed is one good thick hair 
mattress laid on elastic springs. If two mattresses are 
used the 4inder one should also be of hair, as straw and 
husks nearly neutralize the elasticity of the springs. 
The retail price of hard hair is seventy cents a pound, 
and the mattresses sell at tbe same rates. Forty pounds 



FUENISHING THE HOUSE. 61 

is the weight of a mattress for ordinary double bed- 
steads, and it will consequently cost twenty-eight dol- 
lars. Soft hair sells at sixty cents a pound, and a bed 
made of it at twent3^-four dollars. A straw under- 
bed will cost three dollars, and a husk one five and a 
half. Where a feather bed is used a mattress must, of 
coui'se, come between it and the springs ; and here, as 
the feathers are so elastic, a husk mattress will do, but 
hair is far preferable. Geese feathers sell at a dol- 
lar a pound, and a feather bed consequently will cost 
forty dollars. A very costly article, and except in some 
few cases, an undesirable one. 

Ordinary pillows weigh from three and a half to four 
pounds ; five pounds will make quite a large one ; al- 
though some like monsters of eight and ten pounds. 

A bolster weighs about six pounds. 

Cotton ticking for feather beds comes at thirty-two 
cents a yard ; for hair at twenty-five ; and for straw and 
husks at eighteen. The imported linen ticking is 
sixty cents for the seven-eighth width, and eighty cents 
for yard and a quarter wide. 

Thick, soft, fleecy blankets of fair quality can be 
bought from ten to fifteen dollars a pair, and the finer 
grades from fifteen to twenty-five dollars. 

Very pretty Marseilles bed-spreads are from four to 
six dollars apiece ; and some neat styles, but of rather 
coarse quality, as low as two and a half. 

Sheetings, both in linen and cotton, are from two and 
a quarter to two and a half yards wide. The first is 
wide enough for ordinary bedsteads. The sheets should 
be two and a half yards long ; and made with one hem 
wider than the other, so that the top can always be dis- 
tinguished from the bottom. You can get cotton sheet- 



62 THE HOME. 

ing heavy and good, and of medium fineness, for fifty- 
cents a yard ; and the Hnen is from one dollar and 
twelve cents to two dollars. Pillow-case cottons and 
linens are five and six quarters wide. The cotton is 
from twenty-five to thirty-six cents a yard, and the 
linen from seventy cents to a dollar. Three pairs 
each of sheets and pillow-cases should be allowed to a 
bed, but, if several bedrooms are furnished, this pro- 
portion will be found greater than is necessary. 

Pillow-case covers made of linen, and prettily trim- 
med and ornamented are now much used to lay over 
the pillows during the day. They make the bed look 
prettier, and conceal the tumbled appearance that pil- 
low-cases that are slept on must necessarily have, and 
they keep clean a long time. 

In Europe linen sheets are universally used by the 
better class, but the}-- are not as common in this country 
as very man}^ persons have a prejudice against them, 
considering them unsuited to our climate, and unhealth- 
ful. There can be no such objection to linen pillow- 
cases, however, and it is not at all out of 2:)lace to use 
them with cotton sheets, although linen sheets and cot- 
ton pillow-cases would look strangely enough. 

Bed hangings, those ancient health-destroyers, being 
entirely unsuited to the modern bedstead, are, fortu- 
nately, obsolete. But some persons who still have the 
old-fashioned " four-posters " imagine that they give 
beauty to what has it not by hanging a strip of wavy 
lines, or festoons of cotton, silk, or woolen around the 
top. Thus treated, they remind one more of a tall girl 
who has outgrown her clothes than of anything else. 

But, whatever you do with your " four-poster," don't 
have it cut down under the imjpression that you thereby 



FURNISHING THE HOME. 63 

make it resemble the modern stj^les. Usually the only 
virtue ancient furniture possesses is that it looks an- 
cient — that is its one redeeming quality. To our mo- 
dern eyes the four-xDost bedstead is an ugly and clumsy 
invention, but the queerly-turned, or elaborately-carved 
posts have a quaintness that pleases the fancy, and an 
attractiveness apart from beauty. We associate them 
with the dames of olden times arrayed in their wonder- 
ful farthingales, gay bodices, towering head-dresses, and 
trains of shining satin ; and with the stately cavaliers 
in velvet coats, lace ruffles, silk breeches, diamond 
buckles and flowing wigs. We can imagine them all 
bedecked for the ball, practising the steps of the min- 
uet that had to be so perfectly executed, or studying the 
best way of making their elaborate bows and curtsies 
under the shadow of this very "four-poster." We 
may reasonably suppose that you keep it where it is, be- 
cause it is an heir-loom, an old family piece, around 
which cluster tender memories. But, cut it down, and 
not even illusion remains to invest its clumsiness with 
the grace of poetry. It becomes at once a hybrid 
monster, like nothing else that was or is under the sun; 
and we find out then that instead of being a dear old 
friend that you cherish, it is only a poor relation of 
whom you are ashamed, and would gladly be rid. 

We are apt to forget of how much importance is a 
good bed, and a pleasant and healthful room to put it in, 
until we reflect that our Creator has so constituted us 
that one third of our whole existence is passed in sleep. 
This is Nature's great restorer, and we must help her in 
her kindly office by doing our part to make all the con- 
ditions favorable to the develo]Dment of the highest de- 
gree of health. 



64 THE HOME. 

A bedroom should be light, airy, and cheerful, and, 
above everything else, well ventilated. " To sleep in a 
room without a fire," is often cited as a highly proper 
and healthful thing to do. And it may be to sleep in a 
room where the fire is not kept up at night, but to 
sleep where there has been no fire during the cold sea- 
son is quite the contrary of a healthful practice. In 
our climate, in both the Northern and Southern States, 
every bedroom that is occupied should have a fire 
lighted in it during the winter, at least for a short time 
every day. If you are obliged to keep up a fire at night, 
lower the windows at the top, A fire is oftentimes a 
great purifier. Not that we advise a hot bedroom, or 
indeed any hot room, but it must be borne in mind that 
the important thing is, not to keep the room cold, but 
to take such precautions that a sufiicient quantity of 
fresh outside air shall be regularly supplied. Furnace 
heat, although objectionable in some respects, is cer- 
tainly desirable for bedrooms, for the one reason that it 
can bs let in or shut out at pleasure. 

THE DINING-EOOM. 

If, on visiting a house the first time, we are ushered 
into the parlor, and find it elegantly appointed, we have 
no reason to suppose that the other rooms at all cor- 
respond with it. The bedrooms may be bare and un- 
comfortable ; the dining-room dalrk, half-furnished, etc. 
If we are received in a bedroom, and find it all right, 
we may be almost certain that the parlor is, at least, 
equally well furnished, but we have no guarantee for 
the dining-room and kitchen. But if, by any chance, 
we happen to see the dining-room first, and find it an 



FURNISHING THE HOME. 



Gl 



attractive room, completely furnished, and in good 
taste, we may regard it as positive proof that the whole 
house is ordered in the same complete and attractive 
manner. For, although a dining-room may be one of 
the first rooms in the house sufficiently furnished to be 
used, it is generally the last to receive the finishing 
touches of grace and beauty. 

It is well, even when furnishing with slender means, 
to distribute the pretty things throughout the house 
with tolerable equality, so that the dining-room shall 
receive its share. For it is not (or, at least, should not 
be) merely an apartment to hold a table and a sufficient 
number of chairs to place around it, where we may eat 
three times a day, getting through the meals as speedily 
as possible ; the only pleasure anticipated or desired 
being the tickling of our palates by delicate flavors. 
Our meals should be social gatherings, to which we look 
forward with pleasure from other motives than those of 
gormandizing, or even a necessary satisfying of our hun- 
ger. A hearty liking for the good things of the table 
is natural and healthful, and should be encouraged by 
abundant food appetizingiy prepared, and not repressed 
by meagre fare and badly cooked dishes. But the 
family meeting, the pleasant talk, the joking and laugh- 
ter, (and plenty of it,) should be, certainly, quite as 
eagerly desired. And such meetings might be extended 
to a much greater length than is the usual custom, with 
advantage to the family enjoyment and the family 
health. To accomphsh all this effectually the surround- 
ings should be complete and comfortable, and suggest- 
ive of pleasant thoughts. 

Dark walls do not suit a dining-room any better than 
a parlor or bedroom, and, in fact, precisely the same 



66 THE HOME. 

rules hold good here as have been already laid down 
for the furnishing of parlor and bedroom walls as to 
coloring, and the various advantages of painted walls, 
wood hangings, and different styles of paper. Of the 
latter, however, one style may be mentioned that is not 
admissible for either of those rooms, except for wain- 
scotings, but very suitable for a dming-room wail — the 
oak paper, which is an excellent imitation of wood, and 
sells for thirty-five cents a piece. It is very pretty, 
though not as handsome as the higher priced and more 
delicately colored papers, but has its advantages. It is 
perhaps a questionable recommendation to anything in 
a dining-room, to say that " it does not show dirt. " 
And yet, as flies will invade a dining-room to some ex- 
tent, do what you may to prevent it, and as it is ex- 
pensive and troublesome to re-paper frequently, some 
consideration must be given to the fact that the medium 
color of the oak j)aper does not show fly specks like the 
more dehcate tints on the one hand, and does not 
" show dirt " as soon as the dark paper on the other. 

An oak chair-rail can be run around the room, break- 
ing up the uniformity of this paper, while adding to its 
general wood-like appearance. Or the oak paper can 
be used for wainscoting, and above a pale brown, with 
a little dash of color, finished with a black and gold 
border. 

In describing parlor and bedroom nothing was said 
about the wood-work, because where this is of fine 
woods it will, of course, be simply oiled or varnished to 
bring out the graining, and where of common wood 
white paint is so universally preferred that it seemed 
useless either to praise or depreciate it. On the whole 
it is, perhaps, the most suitable for a parlor, and desir- 



FURNISHING THE HOME. 67 

able for a bedroom where paint is used at all. But 
there are several Hght colors, very pretty for the latter 
room if used in harmony with the wall colors— a very 
beautiful light green tint, for instance. 

In case your dining-room or bedroom has never been 
painted, if you oil the wood with raw linseed oil, giv- 
ing it three coats, and varnish it with white varnish, it 
will probably i^lease you better than paint, even if the 
wood-work is nothing but pine, and the more knotty it 
is the prettier the grain ; and you will find that the 
color will deepen with age. 

Parlors and bedrooms may be grained in imitation of 
the handsome woods, but it is not altogether desirable, 
except sometimes for the doors. But for dining-rooms 
it is the next best thing to having the fine wood itself. 
Oak, maple, or chestnut are desirable (walnut is too 
dark) and all woods can be successfully imitated ; but 
be sure that the grainer is an artist in his business. This is 
absolutely essential, for badly grained wood is obtru- 
sively and staringiy ugly. If you have the room painted, 
it should be in a medium and neutral tint that is in 
harmony with the walls. A violet grey will harmonize 
with the oak and brown mentioned above. 

Hang white or buff shades at the windows. If the 
walls are oak, the shades should be white, and the cur- 
tains should also be white, or of very light, or bright- 
colored chintz. The lighter or medium shades of green 
or crimson are the most desirable for sohd-colored 
woolen reps. If the walls are quite light the window 
hangings may be of more sober tints, if desired. Eeps 
with a grey flowered stripe down each width are very 
handsome. The orthodox style for dining-room cur- 
tains, according to the laws of upholsterers, is rep in 



68 THE HOME. 

winter, and lace in summer. Fall curtains of woolen rep 
help very much in giving the dining-room the appear- 
ance of being fully and elegantly furnished when there 
is really not very much in it, and they impart to the 
room a cosiness and warmth, and richness of coloring ; 
and here are not open to the same objection that was 
made to them for the parlor. They are desirable, but 
by no means necessary. The lowest priced, made of good 
material, would probably cost about sixteen dollars a 
window, not including the cornice, and they could only 
be used in winter. Lace looks well during the whole 
year. But this, perhaps, is rather more costly for a 
dining-room than you would desire, as the cheapest 
could not be put up under twelve dollars a window. 

White Swiss muslin makes a simple and pretty dra- 
pery, but for a dining-room the heavy chintzes would 
be more en regie. The satines come in a variety of 
beautiful designs, and are heavy and glossy. They are 
from one dollar to one and a quarter per yard, and re- 
quire no extra trimmings. The cheaper chintzes will 
also make quite pretty hangings. 

For this room an oiled or stained floor, or wood car- 
peting, possesses the most advantages. They are hand- 
some, too, and should have a bright drugget laid under 
the table, and a richly-colored rug in front of side- 
board and hearth. But, if you prefer a carpet, get a 
Three-ply or Ingrain with small figures, or mixed 
grounds, and in medium colors.- Brussels is not at all 
out of place, if you wish a carpet of a costlier kind, 
but you must remember that careless servants are neces- 
sarily much in this room, and that many feet will tread 
over its floor, and that when the surface wears from a 
Brussels its day is done. Do not have such a very 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 69 

nice carpet that you feel yon must cover it up with a 
drugget, except a narrow strip around the edge, left to 
show that you have a carpet. There is not much en- 
joym-ent to be got out of one's possessions if they are 
put out of sight. And, besides, it is of doubtful econ- 
omy. An experienced housekeeper would tell you that 
the colors are very apt to fade under the drugget, and 
that the dust that will inevitably sift through it on 
to your carpet will not add to its beauty. 

But a crumb-cloth of linen or woolen drugget may be 
laid under the table to prevent the carpet from being 
greased, or otherwise soiled. Linen drugget sells at 
about one dollar a square yard, and woolen at one dol- 
lar and a quarter. The above objections do not apply 
to crumb-cloths, as they are so frequently taken up. 

Anything is better on a dining-room floor than oil- 
cloth. It is bare, cheerless, and inelegant, and gives to 
servants much unnecessary cleaning. 

Matting can be laid down for summer. 

Extension tables are now almost universally used as 
dining tables. A plain substantial one of walnut, that 
will seat twelve persons, can be bought as low as four- 
teen dollars, and quite a handsome one for twenty ; and 
so they grow in price as they grow larger, heavier, and 
more ornate. Other American woods sell at about the 
same rates. 

Dining-room chairs of walnut, oak or maple, with cane 
seats, well made, (and not with the different parts merely 
glued together,) are thirty-six dollars a dozen. Made 
of cheaper woods they are twenty-four dollars a dozen. 

It is by no means uncommon to see very prettily fur- 
nished dining-rooms without a sideboard, as they are 
costly and not essential, particularly where there is a 



70 THE HOME. 

china closet convenient. But get one, if you can afford 
it, for they are very useful, and are now made in such 
beautiful styles that they are very ornamental pieces of 
furniture. Handsome ones in walnut, oak, and maple 
can be bought for forty dollars. 

If you have no sideboard, a table should be placed at 
the side of the room for the reception of the extra 
dishes, plates, glasses, etc., which will be needed during 
the meal. During the summer there should also be a 
small table with a marble top, on which the water-cooler 
should be placed. If an ice pitcher is used instead, it 
can be set on the sideboard, or side table. If the 
water- cooler is kept on the sideboard it should stand in 
a deep waiter that the marble may not be injured by the 
drippings from it through careless handling. 

As regards ornaments for this room, let me entreat 
that you will not keep there on exhibition a wax dessert. 
Ice cream jellies and cakes are not precisely objects of 
art, and though they look attractive and pretty to us in 
connection with the suggestion of delicious flavor, when 
placed before our eyes in wax, hint possibilities that 
j)erhaps your table does not realize. 

Statues, busts, and statuettes, though they adorn ban- 
queting halls, are entirely out of place in ordinary 
dining-rooms, and vases also, unless they have some- 
thing in them — grasses, plants, or flowers. A clock is 
allowable, but it is often an ungracious reminder that 
the dinner is late, or that the pleasant i^arty has been a 
long time at the table. In fact, small ornaments are 
here in questionable taste, except the candelabras and 
ornaments of quaint, rich, and heavy designs that are 
manufactured expressly for dining-room mantels. Fail- 
ing these, supply, their places with grasses and flowers. 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 71 

There is no room in which flowers and plants are as 
welcome. You cannot have too many of them. Put 
cut flowers on mantel, table, and sideboard, and have 
plants growing in the windows or on flower-stands in 
front of them. 

Pictures are in good taste, and highly desirable, but 
not of fruits or desserts. These, unlike the wax abomin- 
ations mentioned previously, may be very beautiful or 
ingenious in themselves, but when we have the real 
thing before our eyes we care little for the representa- 
tion, and if we have it not, do not care at that precise 
time to be reminded of it. And pictures of dead game 
are not altogether pleasant and appetizing for dining- 
room walls. If you have fine paintings or chromos of 
" still life " you had better hang them in any other 
room than this, if you wish them to be fully appreci- 
ated. 

THE KITCHEN. 

A white-washed wall is best for the kitchen, as it is 
pure and sweet, and can so easily be freshly white- 
washed whenever it is soiled. The whitewash can be 
colored if a tint is desired. This makes a prettier wall, 
but has the disadvantage that, whenever any place be- 
comes soiled, (and accidents are not uncommon in kit- 
chens,) a white- washer must be called in to repair the 
mischief, whereas the ordinary whitewash can be put 
on by anybody sufficiently well for this purpose ; and 
thus no greasy and unsightly spots need ever be seen 
on the kitchen wall. The ceiling and walls should be * 
whitewashed at least twice a year. 

Painted wood-work is not desirable ; it soon looks 
dirty, unless washed very frequently with soap, which 



72 THE HOME. 

process soon wears off the paint in spots. The wood, 
left in its native state, requires a great deal of hard 
scrubbing ; but if oiled and varnished, or simply oiled, 
will keep clean a long time, and can be easily and 
quickly wiped off with a little water. 

In many kitchens, especially in the city, window 
shades are a superfluity, for the rooms are quite dark 
enough without their aid ; but, if your room happens 
to be so light and sunny as to make shades desirable, 
Holland linen in grey, light brown, or deep buff, will 
make very serviceable ones. Or they can be made of 
solid colored calico, if wide enoug'h, which will not fade 
in the sun, or by washing. But muslin curtains will 
generally be preferred to the shades, as they soften the 
light without shutting it out. Get two and a half, or 
three yards of wide, white, " cross-barred " muslin, at 
twenty-five or thirty cents, and make a plain curtain, 
without fullness, with a string run through the hem at 
the top, that it may be drawn back and forth ; or, what 
is better, hang it on a rod, with the old-fashioned cur- 
tain rings. If a more artistic arrangement is desired, 
get two widths, gather, and sew the tops to a tape, and 
tack to the inside of a lath two or three inches wide. 
Put on short end-pieces, and stain the little cornice 
thus made with black walnut stain. These curtains are 
somewhat troublesome, as they have to be washed fre- 
quently, but they are easy to do up. They should not 
be starched stiffly. Half cu]-tains of muslin are often 
sufficient for kitchen windows. 

If the flooring is smoothly and evenly laid, the clean- 
est and least troublesome method of treating it is to oil 
it well two or three times a year. It does not soil 
easily then, and when soiled can be washed readily, and 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. . 73 

without scrubbing. If it is not in proper condition for 
oiling, stain it with black walnut stain. This will pro- 
bably have to be renewed every spring and fall, but is 
not difficult to do, and will cost less than fifty cents for 
each apphcation. In the winter you will need to lay 
strips of carpet in front of the tables. It is easy to 
sweep these uncarpeted floors, and there is no dust 
rising from them and mingling with the food that is 
being prepared. But we are far from commending the 
use of bare floors, that are neither stained nor oiled. 
These require too much soap and sand scrubbing. 
They suggest tired backs, and weary arms, and aching 
knees. Housekeepers should arrange everything as far 
as possible to avoid scrubbing. It is very hard labor, 
performed in a painful position, and motives of human- 
ity ought to lead us to lessen it wherever we can. Ser- 
vants complain bitterly of this work, and in England 
there is a painful disease known as " Housemaid's 
Knees," that is produced by this very scrubbing. And 
then, too, it takes a great deal of the servant's time to 
very little profit. 

Oil-cloth is generally preferred for kitchen floors, but 
it is costly when good, and no other is worth putting 
down in a room where it will be so hardly used. The 
best American oil-cloth is two dollars a square yard, 
and you can get a fair quality for a dollar and a half, 
but scarcely for less. And it has the disadvantage of. 
the imstained floor — it has to be washed very often. 
True, it ought not to be scrubbed, and especially with 
lye soap, but servants will do it unless closely watched. 
They imagine they clean it sooner this way ; and more 
oil-cloth has been worn out by servants' scrubbing than 
any other means— the lye soon eats its way through the 



74 THE HOME. 

cloth. But, if it should not be scrubbed in this way, it 
has to be washed very frequently, and is easily soiled. 
Wood carpeting is not more costly than the best oil-cloth, 
and is not open to the same objections. Indeed, where 
the floor is badly laid, it is the best covering for it. 

Carpets are not suitable for kitchens, not being 
cleanly enough, and they are troublesome to manage, 
as they have to be shaken so often. But, if the room 
is very cold, a square of carpet may be laid in the 
middle of the floor, fastened down by rings at the four 
corners, which rings are slipped over smooth-headed 
tacks driven into the floor. 

If, however, you choose to cover your kitchen floor 
with a carpet, Rag is the best, because it is thick and 
heavy. It should not be laid in separate breadths, but 
regularly made, and tacked down only in front of the 
doors and places where it is liable to trip any one up, 
and there as lightly as possible, so that it can be taken 
up with little trouble. For it should be well shaken 
twice a week. 

A dresser is indispensable in a kitchen, and, if you 
rent a house without it, insist upon the landlord putting 
one up. If you have one made under your own direc- 
tions, let it be large enough for two wide closets be- 
low, and three narrower ones above. The upper closet 
should be far enough above the lower to allow the top 
of the latter to be used for a shelf, or rather, a sort of 
table. The lower closets should be at least two feet in 
depth. In the one nearest the fireplace, keep the cook- 
ing utensils ; in the other, the small stores of flour, 
corn-meal, sugar, coffee, tea, etc. ; also the sj^ices, box 
of stale bread, and whatever is to be used in cooking ; 
it is the place, also, for the pastry-board, bread-bowl, 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 75 

and rolling-pin. This latter closet must, of course, be 
provided with some shelves. It is well to have above 
these closets a row of drawers, in which to keep the 
kitchen table-cloths, towels, ironing-blankets, etc. If 
there are no drawers, a couple of shelves in an upper 
closet can be appropriated to these things. 

The upper closets should be a few inches less in 
depth than the lower, and two of them filled with 
shelves. The smaller one of these is intended for a 
place of temporary deposit for meats, butter, oysters, 
soup-stock, preserves, fruits, and everything of this 
kind prepared for cooking, and presently to be used, 
instead of standing, sometimes for hours, on the tables, 
catching the dust and attracting the flies. This is the 
place for the salt-box. And here, too, may be kept the 
pieces set aside for beggars. In the second closet, also 
with shelves, the kitchen china is placed. The third 
should have but one shelf, at the top, on which may be 
kept the soap, washing soda, starch, and anything that 
is not used ever}^ day. Below this is a clear space, in 
which the tins are hung. Some persons like to see 
these disposed around the kitchen walls, and they have 
a sort of homely beauty, but they necessarily get dusty, 
and their brightness dims sooner when thus exposed to 
the moist air, and they will therefore require more fi"e- 
quent cleaning. 

If there is no laundry, in which to keep the imple- 
ments for washing and ironing, try to dispose of thom 
in some other place than the kitchen. The flat-irons 
can stand on the mantel-piece, and you may, possibly, 
find room for the wash-boiler in a dresser closet ; but 
the tubs can be put in the cellar, and the clothes- 



76 THE HOME. 

baskets, skirt-board, etc., in some closet or unoccupied 
room. 

You will need two tables, of unpainted and unvar- 
nished wood, and on these the servant can exercise her 
gift for scrubbing, and bestow upon them the attention 
that the oiled floor does not need. The size of the 
tables depends somewhat upon that of the kitchen — 
one three and the other five feet long are the usual 
sizes ; and they will cost respectively three and five 
dollars. 

Ordinary painted wooden chairs are about seventy- 
five cents apiece. You will, probably, require three or 
four. The best chairs are of oiled ash, or common 
maple, with broad, low seats, and bent backs, and are 
a dollar apiece. To make these wooden chairs more 
comfortable, cushions may be made of ticking, and 
stuffed with hair, with calico covers that will slip on and 
off readily, as they will have to be frequently washed. 

A very popular article of kitchen furniture is one 
that can be converted into a table or settee at plea- 
sure. 

The kitchen should have a clock, and it must be one 
that is warranted to keep good time, for on it a great 
deal of the comfort, and some of the good temper, per- 
haps, of the family will depend. Three dollars is pro- 
bably the lowest price for a good common clock, and yet 
the very cheap ones do sometimes keep in good running 
order for years. It is a good- plan to keep it locked, 
and wind it yourself, not always for fear that the ser- 
vants will tamper with it, and change the hands to suit 
their convenience, but because they are careless and 
will neglect it, or wind it recklessly, and injui-e it ; and 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 77 

besides, if yon set the time yourself, there can be no 
disputing about it. 

Beside these things you will, of course, have a sink. 
Painted iron ones are now considered the best. It 
should not be smaller than two and a half feet long, 
and a foot and a half broad. 

These are all the things necessary for the furnishing 
of the room ; they are few and inexpensive. The fur- 
nishing of the closets will cost very much more, for in 
them are enclosed the most important articles of kitchen 
furniture. A list of these is given at the end of this 
volume. It is very full, and it is not absolutely neces- 
sary to get everything mentioned there at once if you 
do not feel able to do so. Select what you need for 
immediate use, and add to your store from time to time 
until you have completed the list. For there is noth- 
ing set down there that is not necessary for perfect 
housekeeping. And, indeed, many things are omitted 
on the list that are very desirable, but not essential, 
and which should be bought if there are means for the 
purpose. Some of these articles are set down under 
the regular list as *' Extras," but others are necessarily 
excluded. The labor-saving machines, pea-shellers, ap- 
ple-parers, raisin-seeders, and others, being patent in- 
ventions, are rather expensive, but will be found of very 
great service in all families, and more especially in 
those where but one servant is kept, often saving the 
hiring of extra help. 

The kitchen is pre-eminently the cooking-room, and, 
in furnishing, that should be kept in view. But it is 
also, in most houses, the servant's evening sitting-room, 
and ought to be made comfortable for her. If the floor 
is uncarpeted, and the room is cold, let her have a httle 



78 THE HOME. 

square of carpet to lay on the floor in the evening, and 
if there is no gas, let there be a good hanging lamp 
that will throw down a bright light, and some hanging 
shelves with a few books and papers might suggest to 
her employment for a leisure hour. 

HALL AND STAIRWAY. 

A hallj properly speaking, is a wide and lofty apart- 
ment, from which, generally, not necessarily, rises a 
spacious, imposing staircase. Such a hall requires seve- 
ral articles of furniture, a sofa, a settee, or something of 
that kind ; some high-backed, stately chairs, with low, 
wide seats, leather covered, a table, a large hat-stand, 
with mirror ; the walls adorned with stag horns, curi- 
osities, and a picture ; perhaps brackets and busts ; 
large vases are on each side of the doorway, and niches 
are occupied by statues. 

But in America we call our narrow entries halls. In 
the ordinary city houses one article of furniture — a. 
hat-stand and umbrella-rack combined — makes the hall 
quite crow^ded ; and in the country, where they are 
somewhat wider, the addition of a table and couple of 
chairs fills them to their utmost capacity. 

Such narrow halls should have carpets laid down 
without borders, as these only make them look nar- 
rower than they really are, except in the case of a very 
short entry, when a border makes it look longer. 
Ingrain carpeting is not used for halls and stairways, 
but the heavier Venetian takes its place. This is sold 
in various widths — the best, if yard wide, is two 
dollars and a half a yard, and the other widths in j)ro- 
portion. It can be got of fairly good quality at lower 
prices, but as an entry does not require many yards, and 



FUBNISHING THE HOUSE. 79 

as it has rather hard usage, you should get the best 
if possible. English Brussels is the same price, and 
in texture wears equally well, but in time the colors rub 
off, and it cannot be turned like the Venetian. Wilton, 
having* a cut pile, wears still longer than the Brussels. 
So does good Velvet, as that also has a cut pile, but 
there is no carpet to which dirt so quickly and perti- 
naciously adheres as to this, and it is very hard to 
sweep. You can put the same grade of carpeting on 
youi' halls and stairway that is in your parlor, or a 
lower one, but not a better grade. If Ingrain is on 
your parlor floor, Venetian must clothe the hall, but if 
you have Brussels in the parlor, you can still have Ve- 
netian in the hall, or you can have Brussels, but not 
Wilton, or Velvet. 

The carpet should be alike on entry and stairway, 
and if you are furnishing two or three flights, it is good 
economy to furnish them all alike, though this is not 
necessary. If the carpet does not extend quite to the 
walls, it is admissible to have a strip of painted floor, 
but it is not desirable, and does not look as well as to 
sew a border to the carpet. On the stairs, on the 
contrary, the carpet should not extend entirely across, 
but a space should be left on each side which can be 
painted, stained, or grained. 

In measuring for stair carpet you should allow a little 
piece at top and bottom to run under the hall carpet, 
and also half a yard extra to allow for moving it up or 
down whenever it is put down after shaking, as this 
constant moving prevents it from wearing at the edges 
of the steps. Stair pads should be laid under the car- 
pet, as it will then last twice as long ; they also make it 
look richer, and feel softer under the feet. These are 



80 THE HOME. 

layers of cotton quilted between cotton cloth, and can 
be bought from two to three dollars a dozen, according 
to width. 

Stair-rods vary so much in width, length and design 
that it is impossible to say precisely what are best for 
any particular case. It may be generally stated that 
the nickel rods are from ten to twenty-five dollars a 
dozen ; the brass from one dollar and a half to eighteen 
dollars, and the wooden (of all kinds of wood) from 
one dollar to twelve. 

In wet weather it is well to lay down a strip of linen 
or woolen drugget on the hall carpet, otherwise 
snow-slush or mud will be tracked over it, notwith- 
standing the mat at the door. But it is not well to 
keep it down when the ground is dry. 

A floor laid with fine woods, nicely oiled or varnished, 
is more beautiful for a hall than any carpet. Next to 
this the wood carpeting is most desirable. Gay mats 
should be laid at all the doors opening from the hall. 

Oil-cloth is frequently used for halls, but it is not 
easy to see what advantages it possesses. It is neither 
floor, nor carpet ; has the unclothed look of the former 
without any of its richness and beauty ; and the figures 
and flowers of the latter without any of its warmth of 
coloring, or its suggestions of comfort and complete- 
ness ; and it is more expensive than the former, and 
quite as costly as the latter. It requires a great deal of 
scrubbing, and will have to be -replaced as soon as it is 
a little worn, or it will give a poor appearance to the 
house. For every housekeeper knows that her house 
is judged by the first impression produced on her visi- 
tor's mind by the hall. 

If oil-cloth is laid in the hall, yOu should put paper 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. g]^ 

tmcler it Avherever the sun will be likely to shine much 
upon it, otherwise it may stick fast to the floor. 

Within a few years a new article has been manufac- 
tured that bids fair to take the place of oil-cloth. It is 
called Linoleum, and is made of cork and India-rubber, 
put upon a canvas back, like the oil-cloth. It is plea- 
santer under the feet than oil-cloth, is more durable, 
and is thought by those who have used both, to be su- 
perior to it in every respect. It is two dollars a square 
yard. It is an English manufacture. 

The prettiest style for the walls is a wainscoting of 
walnut, with wood hangings above of solid oak, or the 
oak might be paneled with some walnut, but not striped. 
Avoid stripes whether of wood or x^aper. 

If the wall is painted, any of the light tints are 
suitable ; but if the hall is wide^ and very light, a dark 
shade may be desirable. 

Panel paper is appropriate for a hall, even if not 
spacious, because its narrowness, in connection with its 
comparatively great length, and the open stairway 
gives an impression of height, and this is why stripes 
are objectionable. Grey, or stone color, paneled with 
dark brown, will probably be most satisfactory. 

If figured paper is used, it should not be of vines or 
flowers, but of mixed, indistinct patterns, and as nearly 
as possible of one tint, or else dehcately shaded. Em- 
bossed papers may also be used in halls, if they can be 
found in the proper colors, but the decided hues, such 
as crimson and green, are there entirely out of place. 

The same paper should be used all the way up as 
many halls and flights of stairs as the house contains, 
except in the case of panel paper, when, if preferred, 
the paneling can cease at the end of the landing of the 



82 THE HOME. 

first fliglit, and the plain tint continued the rest of the 
way. It is not, of course, necessary to continue wood 
hangings and painted walls beyond the first flight of 
stairs. 

Marbled papers are not pretty, and, as not even the 
stupidest person actually supposes for a moment that 
your walls are built of solid marble, there is really no 
illusion in them. 

There is no place where wainscoting shows to the 
advantage it does in a hall. Walnut or oak may be 
used with any style of paper. And so can any other 
wood you may fancy, but these two seem most appro- 
priate for halls. 

If you cannot afi'ord a wainscoting, have a chair-rail 
of oak or walnut, with the same colors above and below 
in different shades — a dark stone-grey below, and a 
light stone-color above, is perhaps the prettiest com- 
bination for a hall. 

A gas-fixture, or lamp of graceful pattern, should be 
suspended from the ceiling in the middle of the hall, 
or between the stairway and the front door. 

THE servant's EOOM. 

If you have secured a good servant, one of the surest 
ways of retaining her is to give her a comfortable room ; 
and, if she is not a very good one, perhaps the feeling 
that her comfort is cared for, will help to make her 
better. In calculating the expense of furnishing a 
house, the servant's room should invariably be included; 
and if you cannot at once buy all that is set down in 
the List at the end of this volume, you can by contri- 
vance and some trouble manage to provide her every- 
thing necessary except a good bed. That you will have 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 83 

to buy, for this to lier is the most important of all, and 
a home-made mattress is generally a very i^oor affair 
when made out of old materials, and if you buy the 
hair and ticking, it will cost more than the mattress 
ready made ; for the upholsterer purchases his mate- 
rials at so much less than you can that he can afford to 
make up a mattress and sell it to you for what he 
would ask you for the hair that is put in it, and make a 
good profit. 

Straw is too uncomfortable for an upper bed. Husks 
are better, but are not by any means soft. Cotton and 
wool mattres'oes, if made by an upholsterer, are more 
comfortable for a little while, but they soon get lumpy. 
The latter are a good deal used in England, but 
judging from the descriptions and advice given in 
Enghsh Household books of quite recent date, the 
middle classes of that country have yet to learn what 
constitutes a really good bed'. Americans, being Syba- 
rites in this matter, have reached perfection as nearly 
as our present knowledge allows. What luxurious 
couches may be reserved for the future we cannot, of 
course, know ; but our noiseless elastic springs, and 
cool, clean, light hair mattresses are exquisitely com- 
fortable. We have universally adopted the low French 
bedstead, and we beheve that we are indebted to them 
for the spring mattress which suggested the different 
arrangements of springs now made. The spring mat- 
tresses are almost out of use. They soon got out of 
order, were difficult to put in order again, and afforded 
safe refuges to bugs. 

The bedstead for your servant's room is not of much 
importance except that it should be low, and should 
Bcrew so tightly together that bugs cannot get into the 



84 THE HOME. 

cracks. Very good single bedsteads of wood or iron 
can be purchased from four to six dollars. For three 
dollars you can fit it with a set of springs. If you get 
a husk or wool mattress it will be more comfortable 
laid right on the springs than with a straw bed under 
it. The same may be said of a hair mattress. Hard 
hair is best, but the soft hair wears very well, and is 
ten cents a pound cheaper. A single mattress of the 
former will cost about fourteen dollars, but it will last 
for years before it will have to be " made over," and 
then, with perhaps the addition of a little hair, can be 
made as good as ever, and serve for another term of 
years. A mattress of soft hair will cost from ten to 
twelve dollars. 

Mattresses in this room, and also in all the bedrooms, 
should be furnished with covers that can be taken 
off and washed. A blue cotton check, at twelve and 
fifteen cents a yard, is sold expressly for this purpose. 

Allow for the bed three pairs of cotton sheets, each 
one and a half yards wide, and two and a quarter long. 
Cotton at twenty-five cents is very good for this pur- 
pose. As there is but one pillow, three pillow cases will 
be sufficient. A ^oair of thick all-wool blankets of suf- 
ficiently fine quality, can be bought for five or six dol- 
lars. These, with the addition of a neat cotton cover- 
let, will complete the bed furnishing, except that in 
very cold weather a comfortable may be needed. 

A table with a small looking-glass hung over it, will 
answer for toilet purposes, though a bureau is to be 
preferred. There should also be a wash-stand and its 
furniture, and a low, cane-seated rocking-chair will bo 
a comfortable addition. 

Bag carpeting for the fioor will cost a dollar a yard. 



FURNISHING THE HOUSE. 85 

and can be bought in very pretty stripes. An American 
Ingrain with cotton chain will cost no more, and will 
look much prettier at first, but is not to be recommended 
for wear. 

Or the floor can be stained, and strips of carpet laid 
by bedstead and bureau ; or a small square in the centre 
of the room. 

It is better not to paper the walls, but to have them 
whitewashed twice a year. 

At the windows hang Holland shades, or curtains of 
pretty calico that is hght in color, and that will not fade 
in the wash. 



PART IV, 

HEATING THE HOUSE. 

So many houses, both in city and country, are now 
suppHed with furnaces or fire-place heaters, that stoves 
are not usually included in Furnishing Lists. For this 
reason we have said nothing about them in our re- 
marks on furnishing; and also for the better reason that 
there is no article of household use of which it is so 
difficult to speak particularly as stoves, so great is the 
variety, and so diverse the reasons for which each is 
recommended. Indeed, to visit a large stove ware- 
house, one would scarcely believe there were such 
things as furnaces and fire-place heaters, but would cer- 
tainly come to the conclusion that the whole world used 
stoves. Forty varieties of cooking stoves, and nearly 
thirty of parlor stoves, may be seen at one establish- 
ment — ^positive proofs that furnaces in the cellar, and 
ranges built into kitchen fire-places, are not, by any 
means, the rule in American homes. To define all 
these styles, and point out their separate advantages, is, 
of course, impossible in this book. And yet we cannot 
pass over in silence such an important matter as heating 
the house. 



HEATING THE HOUSE. 87 

To keep the whole house warm, used to be considered 
very unheal thful. What particular advantage there 
was in going from one heated room to aiiother through 
a cold entry, or from the torrid zone of the sitting-room 
into the frigid atmosphere of the bedroom, where one 
had to depend upon his own supj)ly of animal heat to 
keep the bed warm, and was afrair to stick his nose out 
of the blanket to encounter the cold air, it is difficult to 
see. Doubtless our ancestors thought that warmth was 
enervating, but the rooms that they did heat were at 
the very highest temperature ; enough, it would seem 
to us, to deprive the strongest man of his strength. We 
would not thus call in question the wisdom of our pro- 
genitors, if the same idea did not linger in the minds 
of some of their descendants. There are persons now 
who will keep two or three rooms at a temperature of 
ninety degrees, while all the rest of the house is as cold 
as a vault. This is neither comfortable nor healthful. 

Furnaces are greatly praised by some, and decried 
by others. "So healthy," say the first, "just the air 
for the lungs — so clean, no dust and ashes in the rooms, 
so economical of fuel — so little trouble, with only the 
one fire to attend to — rooms look so pretty without the 
ugly stoves." " Such dry, unwholesome heat," say the 
latter, " and terrible for weak lungs — a great trouble, 
for the fire is never just right, and if the room is cold, 
we have to go down .one or two pairs of stairs to see 
what is the matter, and the servant never attends to it 
pro^oerly — such extravagance in the use of fuel, just as 
much required whether to heat one room or six — the 
rooms are so cheerless and ugly, with no bright fire." 
It is surprising how such totally opposite conclusions 
can be arrived at in regard to any practical thing. 



88 THE HOME. 

Where people of equally good sense and sound judg- 
ment so widely disagree, the inexperienced are some- 
what at a loss what to do. 

For ourselves, we think, on the whole, a house is 
better heated, in a sanitary sense, by a furnace, because 
all the walls are kept dry, which is a matter of very 
great importance. At the same time, we admit that the 
direct heat is dry and disagreeable, and probably not as 
healthful altogether as the stove heat, and certainly less 
so than that from an open fire. For bedrooms that are 
only used as sleeping-rooms, the furnace is desirable 
because the room can be kept at a lower temperature 
than a sitting-room, and still be warm, and all damp- 
ness kept out, and the. heat can so easily be shut out at 
night. The servant's room can also be warmed, b}^ a 
register, and generally servants are not to be trusted 
with stoves. 

We would secure the advantages of a furnace, and 
obviate its disadvantages by having open fire-places in 
all the rooms, so that they can be used whenever de- 
sired, and by using them regularly in the sitting-room, 
and dining-room ; burning in them either wood or coal, 
as preferred. We would thus use more fuel, it is true, 
but the difference would not be great, for the furnace 
fire must be kept so low that the tem^Derature of the 
house shall not rise above sixty degrees, and thus fuel 
will be saved there. This we regard as the most desir- 
able way of heating a house for comfort, health, and 
pleasantness. 

Yv^here parlors and sitting-rooms are not occupied 
until the evening, and dining-rooms only during the 
meals, wood will be found the cheapest fuel, even in 
places where it sells at high prices. For a wood fire 



HEATING THE HOUSE. 89 

can be made with but little trouble, and will so speedily 
become a bright blaze that it will need only be kept 
burning while the room is occupied. A few sticks of 
wood will make a cheerful fire during a whole meal, 
and change the dry atmosphere of the room into a 
more healthful one ; and it will not require much wood 
to keep up a fire the whole evening in a room where the 
air is already tempered by furnace heat. 

Instead of open fires, stoves can be put up m these 
rooms, and used in the same way ; but half of the cheer- 
fulness and brightness of a room in winter is driven 
out when the fire-place is closed. 

The secret of regulating a- furnace-fire so that the 
heat shall be uniform throughout the day, lies in the 
simple fact that it must be attended to systematically. 
When you have so arranged the fire that for one day 
the heat has been uniform, and of the temperature you 
desire, attend to it always thereafter in the same way 
precisely. This seems like a foolish direction to give, 
as it is so self-evident, but it is the very thing many 
housekeepers never learn, not only in regard to fires, 
but everything else. They do not even make the same 
kind of pie exactly alike two days in succession. 

Many country houses are so built that it is not safe to 
introduce furnaces into them. But fire-place heaters 
can be ^Dut into any house. These are stoves set inside 
the fire-place with pipes running up to the rooms 
above, into which the heat is introduced by means of 
registers. Three rooms can thus be comfortably heated 
with one fire. These stoves are of different kinds, aiid 
vary in size to suit large or small rooms, and cost from 
seventy-five to ninety dollars to put up with pipes, re- 
gisters and all complete. 



90 THE HOME. 

"With forty, and perhaps more, different kinds of 
cooking stoves from which to make a choice it would 
seem as if every housekeeper could be suited. The 
fault with most of them is that there is no place for 
roasting meats, and a great many have no proper con- 
veniences for broiling. When you are buying, look out 
for these things ; and see also that it does not burn fuel 
to waste ; that the oven is properly situated for heat- 
ing with no great addition of fuel, and that the stove 
has a revolving grate, so that it can be readily cleaned 
out. A cooking-stove for a medium-sized family will 
cost about eighteen dollars, and so on, down to twelve, 
and up to twenty-five. They are sold with or without 
the proper pots and kettles. 

The self-feeding base-burners are very popular parlor 
stoves. The coal is poured into a funnel-shaped re- 
ceptacle which is in the top of the stove, and drops 
slowly from the mouth of this funnel oil to the fire be- 
low as the coal burns out, and the fire " settles. " This 
saves trouble, as the receptacle has to be filled only once 
a day. The ordinary sizes for families are from fifteen 
to thirty dollars. 

Very pretty open stoves are sold for parlors, bed- 
rooms, etc. They are furnished with grates, and in 
most of them either wood or coal can be used. A small 
size, suitable for a bedroom, can be bought for six dol- 
lars, and the medium sizes are from eight to twelve. 

The old and familiar gas-burner stoves still retain 
their popularity, and are from nine to fifteen dollars. 

These are only a few of the great variety of coal 
stoves, and there are also quite a number of different 
manufactures of wood stoves. These range from five 
and six dollars up to twenty. 



HEATING THE HOUSE. 91 

In whatever way you heat your house, try to have an 
open fire in the family sitting-room, if it is possible. A 
wood fire is much to be preferred, but coal will do. It 
will not cost very much, and the little extra trouble it 
gives is not to be compared with the enjoyment the 
family will all derive from it, to say nothing of the po- 
sitive advantage of keeping the air pure and sweet. 



PARTY. 
KEEPING THE HOUSE. 

SERVANTS. 

These seem to be regarded as necessary evils, and 
yet they should be comforts. Many a beginner in 
housekeeping exclaims, "I can get along with every- 
thing but the servants, and I look forward to contests 
with them with real dread." Our servants are, as a 
rule, inefficient, careless, and unskillful, and very inde- 
pendent of the good o]3inion of their mistresses. But, 
if you are so fortunate as to get a good servant, and, if 
you inquire into her history, you will generally find that 
her fird mistress knew how to train her and to win her 
respect and affection. The treatment that a girl re- 
ceives in the first two or three years of service, and the 
teaching that she then has, determine the whole future 
character of her service. A great deal can be done 
with a servant who comes to you young and inexperi- 
enced ; and something can be done with an older one 
who has passed through years of mismanagement, by 
being a little forbearing with her faults, and kindly 
pointing them out to her, instead of sending her away 
in a week. 

If you can once get a, servant to regard you as her 
fi'iend, your task is half done. At present there seems 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 93 

to be an antagonism between mistress and maid — the 
mistress looks upon the maid as some curious sort of 
animal, entirel}' different from herself, for whom she 
must be constantly on the watch ; and the maid regards 
the mistress as an enemy, of whom she is to take every 
possible advantage. You can never make a friend of 
your servant by treating her familiarly, and joking and 
gossiping with her. She may, at first, be pleased with 
this, but she will lose her respect for you, and the en- 
gagement is almost sure to end in a bitter quarrel. The 
best way is to regard her as a member of the family, 
to whom is due a certain amount of consideration and 
attention, and from whom you demand in return con- 
sideration for your wishes, and obedience to the rules 
of the house. 

Suppose that you had with you a young girl, the 
daughter of a friend, w^ould you allow her to form asso- 
ciates of whom you knew nothing, and to go out in the 
evening with young men, and stay until nearly mid- 
night, without knowing where she was going, and the 
character of her escort ? Extend, then, the same sur- 
veillance and authority over the young servant girl, who 
is as much a member of your family as your young lady 
visitor, without the careful culture to keep her from 
evil ; and who, perhaps, has not a friend in the whole 
country capable of advising her. She will resent it, 
you say. That is very probable. Young girls, of all 
classes, resent the authority that interferes with their 
pleasures. But that is not a sufficient reason for giving 
them a loose rein to do as they please. 

When your servant goes out in the evening, insist 
upon her return before the regular hour of closing the 
house ; and, if she is young, inform yourself of the 



94: THE HOME. 

character of her associates, and what families she visits. 
Teach her how to dress in a neat and becoming manner. 
Show her how to select goods, and to harmonize colors; 
and, if possible, sometimes go shopping with her. 
Take some pains to induce her to safely invest her sur- 
plus money, instead of spending it on cheap jewelry, 
and cotton laces. Put into her mind the ambition to 
excel in her art, not only because it is a good thing to 
do in itself, but that she may make money. This is an 
incentive in all other trades, why not in this ? If you 
do all this with the right feeling in your heart, and in a 
kindly manner, depend upon it your servant will ap- 
preciate it at its proper value, although she may be a 
little refractory at first, and you will reap your reward 
in securing to yourself a zealous and skillful helper, 
and a faithful and attached friend. 

The usual plan pursued by mistresses is to leave a 
girl entirely alone, to dress and act as she may please, 
and choose what companions she will, so long as her 
work is done. The train of evils that follow is only 
what might be expected. The girl chooses to spend 
her leisure time with gay companions, and is very apt 
to form improj^er associates ; gets more and more fond 
of pleasure, and consequently loses ambition about her 
work ; grows slatternly, lazy, indifferent, and impudent; 
and the mistress sends her away, and says, " I knew it 
would be so ! She gave promise, at first, of making a 
good servant, but the truth is,, they are all bad alike." 

The girl thus turned away gets a half-hearted recom- 
mendation from her mistress, and soon finds another 
home, which she speedily leaves ; and thus she drifts 
about from place to place at medium wages, which 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 95 

grow less as she gets older, or she marries some fellow 
as thriftless as herself. 

Some ladies do not allow any " followers " at all, but 
this is going into the other extreme. An occasional 
visit from a young man of good principles will do yom 
servant no harm. It helps a servant very far towards 
doiDg well when her mistress takes an interest in what- 
ever most engages her thoughts and affections. She 
has her hopes and ambitions ; her cares and sorrows ; 
and, above all, she has her family ties ; and sympathy 
and affectionate interest are as dear to her as to other 
women. 

Try, too, as far as your means will allow, to make 
your servant comfortable. It must be somewhat dis- 
couraging to a woman who has finished a hard day's 
work to go up on a cold winter's night to her room 
where the temperature is forty degrees, and to go 
shivering to sleep on a " lumpy " mattress on which she 
could not sleep at all if she were not so tired. And, 
even if your means are somewhat straitened, you can, 
by the exercise of a little ingenuity, manufacture articles 
of furniture that will be quite comfortable, and will give 
the room an attractive appearance. Above all, she should 
have a good bed. 

But these matters are treated of more fully else- 
where in this volume, and it is only necessary to add that, 
if possible, some way should be contrived of warming 
the servant's room in winter. Unless you have one 
that you know you can trust, and that you have good 
reason to think will remain some time with you, it 
would not do to put a stove in the room ; but in these 
days of furnaces, and fire-place heaters, it will be only 
a trifling expense to carry the heat from some part of 



96 THE HOME. 

the house into the servant's room through the sate me- 
dmms of a pipe and a register. 

In this country, where there is such diversity in ways 
of Hving and expense of hving ; where the population 
is crowded in some places, and sparse in others ; ser- 
vants' wages necessarily vary so widely that it would 
be impossible to have a fixed scale that would apply 
everywhere. And, in fact, the scale is more evenly bal- 
anced than it would seem at first sight, for, in the many 
localities where the compensation is small, the cost of 
living is also small, and servants are allowed certain 
privileges that enable them to do quite as well as those 
in other places where wages are much higher But a 
great deal may be said of the comjyai^ative scale of 2^Tices 
in each locality, and it is a lamentable fact that, with 
few exceptions in our household service, unskilled labor 
commands very nearly as high wages as the skilled. 
This is especially true of female servants. Here and 
there will be found an exceptionally fine cook, nurse- 
maid, or laundress, who will command exceptionally 
high wages. But, in most cases, an ignorant, untidy 
girl, who has never learned to do any one thing exactly 
as it should be done, and who, moreover, does not care 
to learn, will ask and get very nearly, if not quite, 
the same amount per month that is given to a fairly 
good servant, who is tidy and careful, and anxious to do 
w^ell. It is true that the latter is likely to keep the 
place, and the former to lose it, but she does not much 
care, for she soon finds another at the same price. 
This seems like offering a premium to ignorance and 
carelessness. And certainly no man could expect to 
prosper in business who paid to thriftless, careless, ig- 
norant assistants the same salaries that he gave to 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 97 

skilled and competent men. It is well Known, too, that 
tlie prospect of increased salaries is a great incentive to 
the ignorant and careless to do better. But what in- 
ducement have our servants to improve when they get 
paid at first as much as they can ever hope to receive ? 
Et is difficult to point out a remedy for this evil, 
which is really the foundation of much household 
mismanagement. Nothing can be done in such a case 
by individual effort. The only way would be for 
housekeepers to cooperate in fixing a scale of wages 
suited to the particular locality, and to pay servants in 
proportion to their skill. 

The time allowed servants as their own also depends 
a great deal upon the customs of each section ; and 
upon some other contingencies, such as the number of 
servants in a family, the hours for meals, and the style 
in which the family live. But, as a general thing, good 
management on the part of the mistress will give a ser- 
vant nearly all of her evenings. She is on hand, if 
wanted, but she needs her evenings for rest from 
physical labor, and to do her sewing, in order that she 
may present that tidy appearance upon which you in- 
sist. And some part of every Sunday should be allowed 
her, and an occasional afternoon or evening for visiting 
her friends. 

Something must be trusted to the honesty of ser- 
vants. It is troublesome to lock up every pound of 
sugar, butter, etc., and dole it out in the exact propor- 
tions in which it should be used. These proportions 
cannot always be estimated to the grain, or the fraction 
of an ounce. You cannot be sure that the new barrel 
of flour, or bag of coffee is precisely, in every respect, 
like the last. And, besides, it is questionable if this 



98 THE HOME. 

practice does not injure the servant out of all propor- 
tion to the small gain to the mistress. A really dis- 
honest servant no one would wish to keep, and pilfering 
from these small stores will soon be detected, and fol- 
lowed by dismissal. They will sometimes use articles a 
little more freely, perhaps, than you would give them 
out. But they cannot waste much if the mistress is at 
all observant ; and, as was said in the opening of this 
paragraph, some trust must be placed in them. 

But the large supplies should, by all means, be kept 
under lock and key. Many persons who are honest 
under small temptations cannot withstand great ones, 
and a servant who has free access to a barrel of flour, 
and bag of coffee, and box of tea, might be tempted to 
take a little sometimes. She knows that it is not likely 
to be missed from so much. And there are generally 
evil and greedy counsellors among her associates to 
whom she confides the fact that she lives where there is 
an open store-room. But it is not only for this reason 
that the store-room door should be locked. If you are 
sure that you can trust your servant not to take a grain, 
we should still say : Lock up the store-room. You do 
not know what day you may lose your servant, and 
replace her with one of whom you know nothing. If it 
is your usual habit to keep the door of the store-room 
locked, the servants will not feel it a hardship, and will 
not complain. It is the most orderly way of house- 
keeping. Your store-room and its contents are then 
entirely under your own control — there is no wondering 
where things are, no waste, no confusion, and, what is 
better than all, no cause for suspicion. 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 99 



AEEANGING THE WOEK OF THE HOUSE. 

The work must be reduced to a system. If it is done 
in a hap-hazard, whatever-comes-upiDermost fashion, 
both mistress and servant will always be at work. 
System is necessary, whether you have one servant or 
half a dozen, and, in the latter case, it is impossible to 
get along without it. But, where you have only one or 
two, it is best not to trust to them to do tlieir allotted 
work, just as it seems convenient to them, for even ex- 
perienced servants, who work well, seldom are good 
planners. That is not the business they have learned, 
and they expect to be directed. You know the wants 
and ways of all the members of your household, what 
little comforts they desire, and their hours for pleasure 
and business. So you are the one to arrange the work 
in such a manner that it will lit in snugly and comfort- 
ably with all these needs, and duties and pleasures. 
For this fact must not be lost sight of — that housekeep- 
ing is the art of making a home — it does not consist in 
keeping a house spotlessly clean, or getting the most 
work done in a given time, or in perpetually making- 
something to tempt the appetite, or in straining every 
nerve to save money. Neatness and industry, and good 
wholesome cooking and economy, all belong to house- 
keeping, but everything must be made subservient to 
the grand central idea — so difficult to define even with 
many words, but so easily understood when expressed 
in one— home. 

It is comparatively easy to arrange the work so as to 
get a great deal done in a very short time, if you choose 
to make everything bend to that. But it is by no 
means easy to mark out a system that shall suit the 



100 THE HOME. 

peculiarities of tlie master of the house, (for every man 
cherishes an ideal of household comfort, and in his own 
house he naturally expects to realize it,) that shall give 
the children comfort and pleasure ; that will not prove a 
restraint to your guests ; that will not keep your ser- 
vant in a flurry and worry, and will give her some 
leisure time ; and that will enable you to give some 
portion of your time and thoughts to other matters 
than housekeeping. It is not easy, but it can be done. 
It will require time, patience, love, and some experience. 
Even after you have it marked out, it will have to be 
changed and modified, possibly abandoned altogether, 
and another commenced ; but at last you will bring it 
as nearly to perfection as anything can be in this sub- 
lunary world. And, once fixed, it will last your life- 
time, unless your circumstances change greatly. 

But, after your system is fixed, and in good working 
order, do not fall into the mistake" of thinking that 
nothing will ever interfere with it. That would be 
making a discipline and a burden of what should be a 
comfort ; and, instead of a home you will have a sort 
of House of Correction. For a fearful thing under the 
sun is one of those excessivel}' neat and systematic 
housekeepers that will not allow her arrangements to 
be put out of joint the least bit, not even by her hus- 
band, who has, most likely, bought everything the house 
contains, nor by dear httle Charlie, or Mary, whose 
happiness and love is worth -more than all the house- 
hold systems ever contrived. You must expect things 
to be " put about " sometimes for the accommodation 
of different members of your household, but it will not 
be for long, and the machine will run just as smoothly 
as ever as soon as the brakes are up. 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 101 

It is evident from the foregoing remarks that no 
housekeeioer can arrange a system of work that will be 
exactly adapted to another, but the following rough 
plan is offered as a suggestion to be filled up, altered, 
or changed altogether, as may suit the convenience of 
each household : 



PLAN OF WOKK tFOR THE WEEK. 



MONDAY. 



This is the almost universal washing day of America. 
Housekeepers hke to begin the week by doing the 
heaviest work, that it may be off their minds ; and 
there is a feeling that the soiled clothes must be got 
out of the way as soon as possible. Therefore Monday 
has become a household bugbear. Slop and suds all 
day in the neighborhood of the kitchen, a soapy atmo- 
sphere all through the house ; a " picked-up " dinner, 
the mistress hard at work, heated and worried ; the 
children in mischief, and the husband wondering what 
demon of misrule invented wash-days. Where there 
are servants enough to release the mistress from help- 
ing with the work wash-day is something less of an 
evil, but still bad enough to be dreaded by all the 
family. Now by changing the day to Tuesday, and by 
making all the preparations for the great event on 
Monday, this terrible ordeal may be so simplified and 
systematicaUy carried out as to cause little or no annoy- 
ance. 

Therefore m our plan, Monday is not washing day, 



102 THE HOME. 

but a day for doing- odd jobs, such as washing windows, 
brightening the silver, cleaning stair-rods, etc, etc. A 
host of them will come crowding into the housekeeper's 
mind, and she will find that the day is not long enough 
to get them all done, and some must take their turn on 
the next Monday. There is that closet you have so 
long been anxious should be cleaned ; that jar of pre- 
serves to be attended to, or they will spoil ; and various 
incidental matters of this kind in addition to the " odd 
jobs." Monday will be a busy and a much valued day. 
It is a good time to select for all these extras^ just after 
the rest of Sunday, and before the regular rush of the 
week's housework begins. 

But you must save time from this work that your ser- 
vant may, towards evening, help you to prepare the 
clothes for the next day's wash. Direct her to divide 
them into three parcels, the fine, the more common, but 
not much soiled, and the really dirty. While this is 
being done you can put down on your list the number 
of articles of each kind. It is well to do this, even 
with honest servants, for, if anything is missing, the 
owner is sure to insist that it was lost in the wash, and 
the list will at once show whether the charge is correct. 
Have ready three tubs of cold, soft water, and put in 
the clothes, havmg first rubbed soap over the parts 
most soiled, and leave them to soak all night. Then 
have the wash-boiler rinsed out, set on the back ot 
the stove or range, and filled nearly two thirds with 
cold soft water. 

TUESDAY. 

As soon as the breakfast is served, the boiler must 
be removed to the front of the stove. When the water 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 103 

boils, put into it half a teacup of washing fluid,* and a 
piece of hard soap, about two inches square, cut into 
shavings. Put in the fine clothes, and boil them twenty 
minutes. Take out with as little water as possible, and 
without wringing, put into clear, cold water. If there 
are any soiled spots remaining on the clothes, they 
should be rubbed out before wringing from this water 
into the bluing water. The tub of bluing water is 
set near the other, so that the articles shall fall into it 
from the wringer. 

Put your second division of clothes into the boiler, in 
the same water from which the fine things were taken, 
and repeat the same ^Drocess ; but, if you have a third 
boiler full, it will be better to prepare fresh water. 

Take the clothes out of the blue waiter, and rinse in 
cold, soft* water, wring out, and hang out to dry.f 

With this plan of washing, and fair weather, the 
clothes will all be hung out by noon, unless the wash 
is very large, and the servant will have the afternoon 
for cleaning up the kitchen and wash-room, putting 
away the tubs, boiler, etc, and making herself tidy. In 
the evening, the fine clothes and most of the starched 
things are to be sprinkled and folded, ready for ironing, 
and the bread is to be " set," for the next day's baking. 

WEDNESDAY. 

The baking this morning need not be as large as that 
done on Saturday, and it should be done as early as 
the morning work will allow, so that the servant may 
not be hurried in beginning the ironing, and do 



* Directions for making washing fluid, page 113. 

t For further directions in regard to washing, see page 148 



104: THE HOME. 

her work badly. She can easily do the ordinary fine 
ironing of a family and her other work in this part of a 
day. But, if there is much ruffling on ladies' dresses, 
and fine work on children's clothes, it will require a 
whole day's hard work to do it, and, in such a case, the 
mistress should hire some one to assist, or do all the 
ordinary housework herself. In the evening, the plainer 
and coarser clothes are to be sprinkled, and folded for 
ironing. 

THUESDAY. 

In the morning the ironing is to be finished. Where 
it is stipulated in the bargain that the servant should 
have half a day every week, this is the best afternoon 
to give her. It is the leisure interval between ironing 
and sweeping ; and, as it is the day usually given by 
housekeepers, it enables the girl to meet her friends 
when she goes out. 

FRIDAY. 

Besides the every day sweeping, dusting, and putting 
to rights, it is necessary to devote one day in the week 
to this special duty, and Friday suits best for the pur- 
pose. The sitting-room, dining-room, halls, and stair- 
ways must be swept often, but once a week will be 
found generally sufflcient for the rest of the house. To 
do this thoroughly and well will require the whole of a 
day in addition to the ordinary work. In the evening 
the bread must be set to rise for the next day's baking. 

SATURDAY. 

This is the busiest day of the week. There is the 
regular morning work ; then the baking ; then the 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 105 

scrubbing and scouring. [It has been shown in a for- 
mer part of this work that much scrubbing, which is 
now thought necessary, may be avoided, but still there 
are some things that must be scrubbed, only let there 
be as little of it as possible.] And the latter part of 
the day should be occupied in preparing everything for 
the next day, so that Sunday shall be a day of rest for 
all as far as practicable. The whole breakfast can be 
so arranged as to occupy but very few minutes in cook- 
ing, and, in winter, nearly everything for dinner can be 
prepared ; and, in summer, most things will keep well 
on ice, or in a cool cellar. The Sunday dessert can al- 
ways be made on Saturday. But do not let the Satur- 
day's work run into the evening. 

SUNDAY. 

Do no work at all on this day, except what is actually 
necessary for comfort — "thou, nor thy servant." If 
you see a dusty corner, or a dim window pane, let it 
alone until the next day. Some putting of things to 
rights there must be, some making of beds and cooking. 
But there is no need of getting up especially elaborate 
dinners on this day, and, if Saturday afternoon has 
been employed as it should have been, your cooking 
will not occupy very much time. But don't be phari- 
saical about the work, accounting some work desper- 
ately wicked, and others sinless. There are people 
who will stuff a turkey and roast it, and cook three or 
four vegetables, and stew cranberry sauce for dinner, 
and yet will not make up a pan of biscuit for supper, 
(an operation that requires but a few minutes,) because, 
forsooth, " it is wicked to work in flour on Sundays !" 
This is only one of a dozen senseless ideas of the same 



106 THE HOME. 

kind. The idea is not that any particular kind of work 
is in itself sinful on this day, but that it is the day set 
apart for Christian worship, and you and your family 
desire to attend church ; and to have the servant attend 
also, and, if there were no higher principles involved, 
all creatures need a rest one day in seven. 

This plan is intended for families where but one ser- 
vant is kept, but if there are two, the same system will 
be found to work well, only in that case, the mistress 
need do but little of the work herself. The servants are 
her hands, but she must think for them, and this is no 
light task. And then, too, there is the constant over- 
sight of everything. This is absolutely necessary with 
our present race of servants. You may teach Bridget 
how to wash dishes properly, (a thing, by-the-way, that 
almost all servants do very badly,) and having watched 
her a dozen times, and become convinced that she 
understands every detail, if you neglect her for a month, 
you will find that the plates begin to feel " sticky," and 
the glasses to look "cloudy," and if you then come 
upon her unawares, while at this task, you will find that 
she does scarcely a single thing as you directed her. It 
is not necessary to overlook every part of the work 
every day — one might almost as well do it one's self — 
but the servant must feel that she is not to be left to 
herself to do the work her way, but that you require it 
to be done your way, and that you intend to see that 
your wishes are attended to ; and then, too, you must 
cultivate your habit of observation, that you may take 
in things at a glance. There is an old, true proverb, 
" The eye of a master is worth both his hands." So 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 107 

far from overlooking everything every clay, it is best not 
to do it, for this necessitates being in the kitchen a great 
deal, and that is a bad thing both for your servant and 
yourself. Your time can be much more valuably em- 
ployed elsewhere ; and such constant talking, directing, 
and helping lessens your servant's respect for you. 
There is always a point, beyond which it is best not to 

go- 
Unnecessary helping of servants with their work is 
injurious to them in every way, besides tending to mako 
them dissatisfied, for they are much happier when fully 
emplo^^ed. This is very different from being over- 
worked. Where there is but one servant in a family of 
two or three persons, the mistress will have to help a 
little, and if the family consists of five or six, she will 
have to do the lighter work, for the heavy work will be 
as much as one girl can manage properly. But two 
girls can do the work of such a family with ease. Em- 
ploying too many servants leads to idleness among 
them, and all its attendant evils. 

The essential point in having the work of the house 
done without hurry and jar is that the servants should 
rise early. That they may do this, and get as much 
sleep as they need, encourage them to go to bed early. 
There is very little for them to do in the evenings, and 
no good reason for their sitting up late. But, unless 
the business of the master of the house requires an 
early breakfast, there is no need that the mistress should 
rise early. It is often considered a mark of a poor 
housekeeper to remain in bed until eight o'clock on a 
winter's morning, when, in fact, this has nothing what- 
ever to do with the matter. Sometimes early rising is 
a duty, from the nature of the family occupations, and 



108 THE HOME. 

in such cases every one should retire early, for want of 
sufficient sleep is a fruitful source of nervous diseases. 
But in many families there is no such reason for early ris- 
ing, and to them the evening is the happiest time — father, 
mother, children, brothers, sisters, and friends are all 
united in a delightful home circle — and they naturally 
desire to prolong the evening as far as they reasonably 
can. And going to bed late necessitates a later rising. 
Some housekeepers who sit up late, and feel that it is an 
essential of good housekeeping to rise early, try to make 
up the deficiency by sleeping in the afternoon ; but 
this seems something like the famous expedient of the 
Irish woman, who, in order to make her dress longer, 
cut a piece off the top, and sewed it to the bottom. 

The servants have not the same duties to keep them 
up late at night, and it is part of their duty to you to 
rise early, and do their allotted work. You can easily 
find out, when you do get up, whether they have done 
their work, and have done it well. 

WASHING AND IRONING. 

Every year, it would seem that the washing and 
ironing becomes more and more of a burden to house- 
keepers. Our grandmothers, apparently, did not think 
much of it, for they had no machines, patent wringers, 
or wonderful magic soaps, and they arose at day dawn, 
and set themselves or their maids at the wash-tubs, and 
did their work in the hardest possible way without 
complaint, so far as we know. But their rubbing, and 
slopping, and pounding,* made "wash-day" quite as 
great a bugbear to the male members of the family as it 

* Tlie clothes, after being taken from the boiler, were pounded in a barrel. 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 109 

19 at this time, and a house pervaded by hot, soapy 
steam was no more agreeable to our grandfathers than 
it is to our husbands and brothers, judging from the dole- 
ful plaints of this famous institution, they wrought into 
both prose and poetry. But we are not as strong as 
oar grandmothers ; our occupations are more varied, 
our style of living entirely different, and to us the wash- 
ing and ironing is the hUe noire of housekeeping. The 
ironing is especially tedious in these days of puffing, 
crimping, and fluting of bias tucks and interminable 
lengths of ruffling. Where there is but one servant, 
even with a hired washerwoman, the mistress has to do 
very nearly all the other work of the house for two, 
ajid perhaps three days of the week ; and, with two 
servants, a good deal has to be done to help them out. 
Usually a woman is hired to come for a day to do all, 
or the heaviest part of the washing, and then, all day 
long, the kitchen and wash-room are in a mess and a 
clutter, (to use technical terms,) a perpetual chatting 
goes on between the hired woman and the servants ; 
they all seem demorahzed for that day, giving the mis- 
tress an impudent stare when she comes into the kit- 
chen, as much as to say, "What business have you 
here ?" The woman has her own way of washing, and 
very often it is not a good way, and she will not change 
it to please you. She will rub the clothes to pieces on 
a washboard ; she will let the flannels he in dirty suds; 
she will put a great piece of soda into the tub whenever 
your back is turned. And then she so often disappoints 
you — she has a job of house-cleaning, or somebody is 
sick, or she is detained in the country. And some- 
times she comes to you half-tipsy. In short, the hired 
washerwoman may be voted a nuisance. 



110 THE HOME. 

To escape these evils, there is the alternative of giving 
the clothes to the washerwoman that she may do the 
washing and ironing at her own house. This plan cer- 
tainly adds very much to the comfort of the family. 
Everything smiles serene until the clothes come home 
torn, streaked, "rough dry," spots on shirt bosoms, 
and linen collars, smeared rufSes, and a general air of 
" mussiness " pervading the whole basket ; for the wo- 
man who washed badly at your house will not do any 
better at her own. This description of the clothes-bas- 
ket may seem an overdrawn picture to those who have 
never "put the washing out," but most housekeepers 
will recognize it as faithful. For there is no work that 
women undertake to do that is, as a general rule, done 
so badly as the washing and ironing. A washerwoman 
who perfectly understands her business is such a trea- 
sure in the city that she is out of the reach of people 
of moderate means, for she can command any price she 
pleases to ask. It might be supposed that the demand 
for good work would create the supply, but this rule 
does not seem to hold good in regard to any branch of 
housework. In country places it is difficult to get 
washerwomen of any kind, good or bad. 

Putting the washing out has also another disadvan- 
tage, which is a very serious one — it is very costly. All 
the household linen added to the various articles of 
wearing apparel make a long list. Some lessen the 
expense by having the smaller articles, or the coarser 
clothing, done at home by the servant, but this takes 
nearly two days of her time, and gives us two betes noires, 
one outside of the house, and one in. 

Clothes sent to a really good laundry to be done up 
will come back to you looking so dainty and attractive 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. Ill 

that it is a pleasure to lift them out of the basket — un- 
til you come across the bill ! Of all the present con- 
trivances for doing the washing and ironing, there is 
none so comfortable, so satisfactory'-, and so costly as 
this. 

A word or two in regard to washing-machines. Some 
of these are admirable, and a family without a servant 
should by all means have one, for it will prove to be a 
great saving of strength and time. But, somehow, ser- 
vants and washing-machines do not seem to get along 
well together. A few of the more intelligent like them, 
and use them properly, but the majority, strange to say, 
do not like them at all, and generally contrive to get 
them out of order after using for a few weeks. 

When we consider the great trouble that the washing 
and ironing is in a family, the difficulty of securing the 
services of hired women who are competent for this 
work, and the cost of the public laundries, is it not sur- 
prising that housekeepers do not club together, and 
establish laundries of their own ? For several years 
now this plan has been advocated by writers on house- 
hold matters, and housekeepers have recognized the 
plan as a desirable one ; but, as j^et, we have not heard 
that it has ever been put into practice. The trouble and 
expense of organizing such a laundry on a scale as 
large as is generally recommended probably deters 
ladies from undertaking it. The expense and trouble 
would, however, be found to be less after the first year. 
But it is not necessary to build up a cooperative system 
on any extensive scale. Let half a dozen families in a 
city rent a room in some locality where rents are mode- 
rate, and yet not too far to be conveniently visited. A 
rather large room, and one already supplied with hot 



112 THE HOME. 

and cold water, should be selected. The additional 
cost of stationary wash-tubs, boilers, ironing-tables, etc., 
will not be great, or they might be furnished from the 
private kitchens and laundries of the club. Two good 
washers and ironers hired by the month, will, probably, 
be found sufficient for the work. If the ironing is very 
difficult, extra help might be hired on certain days of 
every week. In so many families are generally to be 
found some ladies with nothing particular to do, who 
will gladly undertake the superintendence of the laun- 
dry by turns, or each one can take charge of some 
particular thing. Each family to pay so much per 
week for number of pieces, the price, of course, to be 
fixed according to the expense of conducting the laun- 
dry. This will be found to cost each family about the 
same as it would to hire a woman to come to the house 
to do the work, but all the vexation and trouble will be 
saved. But a more economical, plan, and one that will 
be found to work much better, would be for the half 
dozen families to organize themselves into a society, 
with president, treasurer, etc., and to deposit in the 
hands of the treasurer a certain sum monthly or quar- 
terly in advance, (this tax, of course, to bear a propor- 
tion to the number of pieces sent by each family,) and 
let this common fund be used for all expenses of rent, 
fuel, servants' hire, etc., including the salary of a superin- 
tendent. It will be easy to find women willing to un- 
dertake this latter office, and to do it well, for a very 
reasonable salary — women who are now wearing their 
lives out in doing sewing very badly that pays them 
miserably. This plan may seem an extravagant one at 
the first glance, but, on trial, will be found cheap, 
especially to large families. Increase the number of 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 113 

famines to twenty, and tlie expenses wHl decrease in 
proportion. 

In tlie country, where the washerwomen do not ex- 
pect hot and cold water, and stationary tubs to their 
hand, this plan will be attended with very httle ex- 
pense. Eooms rent for a low price, and the ladies can 
furnish tubs, irons, tables, etc., from their own houses. 
Perhaps in both city and country the greatest difficulty 
will be in finding women competent to do the work 
well. There will be plenty willing to undertake it, who 
could not be induced to "hire out" to private famihes; 
but, as we have before stated, there are but few wash- 
erwomen who understand their business. But they will 
do their work much better in an establishment where 
they must conform to certain fixed rules, and where 
each has her allotted task, than when left to their own 
devices, and practice and constant supervision will soon 
make them comparatively skillful. 

If washing is done in the house, it should be accord- 
ing to a system, and the work should be so regulated 
as to make as little trouble and annoyance as possible. 
The plan suggested in "Arranging the work of the 
House " will be found easy and practicable. 

The washing-fiuid there referred to is made in the 
following manner : 

Put into a brass kettle (tin and iron are corroded by 
the action of the soda) sixteen quarts of soft water,^four 
pounds of washing-soda, and a piece of lime the size 
of a hen's egg. Boil until reduced to fourteen quarts, 
when pour off; as clearly as possible, into bottles, cool, 
and cork tightly, and set away for future use. 

This fiuid does not injure clothes in the slightest de- 
gree, if properly used; and it cleans them without 



114 THE HOME. 

wasli-board scrubbing, wliich does injure them ; and it 
helps to whiten them. Half a teacup is sufficient for 
a medium-sized boiler. Let the housekeeper measure 
this out to the washerwoman, for if she is allowed ac- 
cess to it she will certainly use it too freely, under the 
impression that it will save her trouble. 

It is a good plan, especially in winter, to wash the 
flannels first in the morning, as they will dry more 
quickly if hung out while the sun is hot. Quick wash- 
ing, and rinsing in hot water, and quick drying are all 
necessary to keep flannels from shrinking. Shake them 
out, and do not wring them. Colored and white flan- 
nels should be washed separately. Colored lawns, 
calicoes, etc., if washed in the ordinary way, are passed 
through two rinsing waters. It is best not to rub soap 
on them. A good way of doing up such dresses (and 
the only one where they show a tendency to fade) is to 
wash them in starch water, using no soap, e^^cept on 
those very much soiled. The starch cleanses them, and 
preserves the colors. A pound of flour starch will be 
sufficient to put in water enough to wash two or three 
dresses. This recipe, however, does not suit black cali- 
coes very well. The color is preserved, but the starch 
gives them a dusty and smeared look. These calicoes 
are very difficult to wash in any way to make them look 
fresh and new. A good housekeeper recommends that 
a tea-cup of weak lye be put in the water in which they 
are washed, and that they be starched in the water in 
which pared potatoes have been boiled, which wiU 
stiffen them without making them look smeared. 

Sugar is best for starching laces — a lump or two 
dropped into cold water. A teaspoonful of coffee added 
to it will give that yellow tinge which is desirable be- 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 



115 



cause it imparts to the lace an appearance of softness 
and ricliness. 

After ironing, the clothes should be well dried before 
putting away. 



THE MEALS. 



It is not the purpose of this book to treat of cooking, 
or to give details of what is best for us to eat and 
drink. These things have already been treated of in 
two volumes of this Series.* But a few things will 
bear repetition, and some remarks under the above 
head come properly only within the scope of this work. 
There has recently been much discussion about the 
proper hours for the three meals that we, in this coun- 
try, take every day, but the fact is that the hours for 
me'als cannot be fixed arbitrarily. They must vary with 
the occupations and habits of different families. The 
farmer, the mechanic, and the laboring man take their 
breakfasts very early ; the merchant takes his a httle 
later; and the student has his later still. All need 
some kind of a mid-day meal, and whether it shall be 
dinner or lunch must be decided by their own judg- 
ment and experience. It is now thought most health- 
ful to take the heaviest meal after the day's work is 
done, and this is doubtless best where it does not con- 
flict with other rules of health ; but it will not do for a 
man who finishes his work at six in the evening, and 
goes to bed at eight, to eat his dinner after his day's, 
work is done. There would be no time before sleep in 
which to digest a heavy meal. It will be best for him 
to have hi^ dinner at twelve o'clock, take as long a rest 



♦ '« Wliat Shall we Eat ?" and " Eating and DrinluDg." 



116 THE HOME. 

after it as he can, and to eat a comparatively light sup- 
per. But for persons whose business does not require 
them to rise early, who sit up late, and work hard dur- 
ing their working hours, a rather substantial lunch at 
mid-day, and dinner at five or six is the most healthful. 
But the meals should be partaken of regularly at the 
hours fixed upon. 

The kind of food is of more importance than the 
hours at which it is to be taken. But this, too, must in 
some degree be adapted to the wants of different classes 
of people. A farmer thinks it best for him to have 
what he calls plain fare, but a merchant or professional 
man would consider this to be coarse, heav}^ unpalat- 
able food. And, considering the great proportion of 
dyspeptics among farmers, it is a question, whether 
such a " plain fare " is best for them after all. Because 
it answered " in the good old times " it does not follow 
that it is suitable to the present. The progress of 
civilization has changed us physically, as well as men- 
tally, and we need our food more daintly prepared, and 
more delicately served, than our ancestors liked it. The 
fried meats, fatty gravies, heavy boiled puddings, and 
tough pie .crusts on which they throve would certainly 
give us the dyspepsia if our stomachs would allow us 
to eat them, but, fortunately, we turn from them all 
with disgust. Housekeepers only half recognize this 
great change, and it is to their ignorance of this fact, 
or their false reasoning upon it, that we owe that scourge 
— Dyspepsia — that is riding rampant all over the land. 
"We are hungry when we seat ourselves at the family 
table where, the material is abundant and good, but 
nothing is appetizing. Our hunger suddenly vanishes, 
but we eat something under a sort of inward protest, 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 117 

and an hour after our hunger returns, and we eat 
irregularly, and take refuge in candies and sweet 
things, and higlily-flavored sauces. 

The materials that we have are the same that our an- 
cestors used — beef, and mutton, and fish, and vege- 
tables, etc. ; we need the same variety of strengthening 
meat, vegetables, fruit, fatty matter, and saccharine 
matter, and the cereals ; but they must be differently 
cooked, dressed, and served to be palatable and health- 
ful for us. 

Nor will it do for Americans to regulate their meals 
and diet by the French, Italian, or English customs. 
Climates that differ so essentially must necessarily pro- 
duce very different physiques. The two meals and a 
half per day of the French will not agree with us any 
better than the four meals of the English. Experience 
has shown that the custom of having three meals a day, 
which prevails all over this country, is a wise one. The 
fault is not that we have not learned to regulate our 
meals as to time, quantity and quality, but that we have 
not learned to cook our food in the best way. 

It has been the custom among us to eat substantial 
breakfasts, but, of late, it has become the fashion to say 
that we should breakfast on tea and toast, or have a 
cup of coffee, with bread and butter, and fruits. Some 
substitute wine for coffee. This has a delicate and at- 
tractive sound, but such breakfasts do not suit our 
climate at all, nor do they agree with our habits as a 
nation of workers. A diet like this may do during the 
hot season in the Gulf States, but, even there, the addi- 
tion of one somewhat substantial dish will be found 
more healthful, if there is any work to be done during 
the day. Wines are not the proper drinks for our 



118 THE HOME. 

breakfasts. Coffee and tea suit us much better. In 
most of these matters the prevaiHng custom points out 
the right way. 

But Cooking- is an art (or science) not sufficiently 
valued in America. Each young housekeeper cooks as 
she was taught by her mother, or some elder friend, or, 
perhaps, quite as often she picks up her information 
from the first cooks she employs after her marriage; and 
all her life long she runs in the same groove. She 
has a cook-book, perhaps, and consults it in the making 
of a few cakes and jellies, and having culled out some 
half dozen recipes, which she uses over and over again 
for a series of years, cook-books are of no further ser- 
vice to her. How common it is in a family of grown- 
up sons and daughters to hear the remark : " The 
things at home are all good, but I must take a meal 
somewhere else occasionally to get up an appetite. I 
seem to need a change." Of course. Nobody can go 
on for twenty years eating the same things on certain 
days of the week, at certain seasons, prejDared always 
in the same way, without needing a change. Some 
favorite dish each one has, and in all the years to come 
memory will revert to " Mother's apple-dumplings," or, 
" Mother's plum-puddings," as the most delicious dish 
ever invented. But, on the whole, they are weary 
enough of the monotonous round. It is not good in 
any business to get into grooves and ruts, and glide 
along the same road forever, and this is certainly true 
of cooking. This progresses and changes with the 
times like any other art or science, and to succeed in it 
housekeepers must make it a stud}^, and not a dull rou- 
tine. Many regard it as a finished art, but there is 
always something new to be learned in it, and house- 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 119 

keepers, like lawyers, plij^sicians, authors, merchants, 
etc., must modify their practice, or change it altogether 
as civilization progresses. 

In this pursuit, as in every other at the present day, 
books, magazines, and newspapers note the changes. 
The number of household books and journals now 
published in this country show plainly that our housQ- 
keepers do manifest a desire to make a study of their 
art, and to learn what others are doing in the same 
field. There is scarcely a weekly newspaper that has 
not a household department, and even the daily papers 
gladly make room among politics and news for a good 
household article. It wiU be well for every housekeeper 
to have some journal on which she can rely, or occa- 
sionally to buy a good book on the subject, even as the 
lawyer and physician consult the Law and Medical 
Journals, not to yield them a blind obedience, but to 
learn what is being done by others in their profession 
in other parts of the country and the world ; to glean 
out a useful hint here and there, and to " keep up with 
the times." Of course they are not all good — there is 
a great deal of trash written on this subject as well as 
every other— but some are good— good enough at least 
to be very useful to you. 

And do not be ashamed because you are laughed at 
for " keeping house by book." Housekeeping is not a 
thing that we do right by instinct, and, is it any more 
of a disgrace to be taught by a good book than by a 
good housekeeper ? And the latter are so very rare. 
Experienced housekeepers there are in plenty, but ex- 
perience does not always give wisdom. We know a 
woman who had kept house for thirty-five years, and 
had made bread twice a week during all that time, ex- 



120 . THE HOME. 

cepfc when prevented by an occasional illness, and at the 
end of the thirty-five years her bread was as heavy and 
" soggy " as in the first year she made it ; and we know 
another whose husband had dealt in clams for seven- 
teen years, having sometimes as many as twenty thou- 
sand on hand at once, and, in all that time, she had not 
learned to cook a clam so that it was even palatable ; 
and anything more unwholesome than her " doughy " 
clam fritters, and tough, leathery fish cut up into 
chowder, or smothered under wet crackers, and called 
by courtesy a clam stew, it would be difficult to imagine. 
It is unnecessary to state that a cook-book had never 
made its way into either of these houses. They knew 
no better way than their own, and no doubt thought 
those who complained of their cooking very ill-natured, 
or ignorant. Experience is not to be contemned when 
added to knowledge, but singly it is of little value. It 
is not claimed that any household book or journal is in- 
fallible, and just here is where experience will help you. 
You will find that some things can be added or sub- 
tracted from the recipes with advantage, and that some 
of the rules for household management do not suit 
your family, and you will modify or change them ac- 
cordingly. It may be that in ten years you will be able 
to write a much better household book yourself, but 
none the less are you indebted to your old friend for all 
foundation knowledge, and to periodical household 
matter for the hints that you have worked into such a 
goodly shape. 

And, if you cannot keep the recipes " in your head," 
it is no matter for discouragement. Have them where 
you can easily refer to them. If yoa have ideas about 
other branches of housekeeping, ideas about training 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 121 

your children, ideas for the home circle, and for society, 
your head is pretty full, without retaining the exact 
proportions of eggs, butter, sugar, cream, flour, and 
flavoring that enter into the composition of a particular 
pudding. 

The present style of cooking with so many " made 
dishes," as housekeepers call them, is more troublesome 
than the perpetual " plain roast or boiled," but is not as 
expensive. And, to keep house well, one must expect 
to take trouble. And, if more troublesome, it is not 
such a weariness to prepare meals with a choice of the 
variety we have at present, as it was when there was 
little beside "plain roast or boiled." Those families 
who have what they call " plain, substantial dinners " 
of huge pieces of meat, ^ often swimming in grease,) 
plain boiled potatoes, and stewed tomatoes that have 
been stirred around a few times over the fire, instead of 
being cooked until they were thick, and then well sea- 
soned, with dessert only once or twice a week, and soup 
as a rarity, are not by any means the most healthy, nor 
are these estabhshments conducted on the most econo- 
mical principles, although it may seem so to those who 
have never tried any other way. The every-day dinners 
require care, taste, and skill — first to select dishes that 
are seasonable, and then to arrange them so as to ha^e 
a variety during the week, and where this is impracti- 
cable, to prepare them in a variety of styles ; and 
lastly, to arrange the table in an attractive manner. 
The three courses of, first, soup ; then meat, or fish, 
and vegetables ; and then dessert, will be found the 
most attractive and healthy for the family, and the most 
economical also. It is not necessary to have desserts 
that are troublesome to prepare, and it is certainly best 



1'22 THE HOME. 

not to have rich ones often, but something in the way 
of fruits or " sweet things," is not only palatable but 
wholesome, after partaking of meat, if the dessert con- 
sist of nothing but baked apples and cream, and some 
very plain cake. During the fruit season there is no 
difficulty in finding materials for desserts, and in the 
winter we have the canned fruits to help us out. Soups 
are easily made, and of so great a variety as to mate- 
rial, that we need not hesitate what to select in any sea- 
son. 

A servant who can set a table properly is almost as 
rare as one who knows how to wash dishes, and it is 
not such a very common thing to find housekeepers 
who arrange their tables handsomely. Provided that 
the dishes are clean, they think it is not much matter 
how they are put on. But, let the things be as clean as 
they may, if they are set on askew, in a hap-hazard 
fashion, the table will present a slovenly appearance. 
And, as the manners of children are cultivated througn 
the senses quite as much as by precept, this helter- 
skelter, disorderly setting of the table, leads those chil- 
dren seated around it to think that, provided they eat 
to satisfy their hunger, it is no matter how they do it, 
and careless and slovenly table manners are the result. 
Your handsome china, and cut glass will not show to 
any advantage on such a table. 

But whether you have decorated china, or plain stone 
ware, if it is glossy with cleanliness, and the dishes 
placed symmetrically on the table with due regard to 
what should be appropriate neighbors ; if you have a 
spotless table-cloth, and clean, whole napkins ; pretty 
table mats ; bright knives, and silver ; shining glass, 
with, perhaps, a dish or two of a fancy pattern ; and, if 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 123 

practicable, a few fragrant flowers ; jonv table will cer- 
tainly be attractive, and the charm will extend to the 
contents of the dishes, so that everything will seem to 
have a more delicate flavor. 

All this requires more artistic management than can 
be reasonably expected from a servant. Instruct her in 
regard to the general arrangement, but, before each 
meal, go into the dining-room, and give the fancy 
touches yourself. It will not require more than five 
minutes. And see that everything is there, that there 
shall be no running to the closet for the salt-cellars, 
extra spoons, etc. 

One other thing in relation to the meals is of such 
importance that it certainly must not be left out of these 
hints. There should be pleasant conversation — not a 
monologue from one of the two heads of the house, 
nor yet a dialogue between them, but lively talk that 
passes from lip to lip. Some families take their meals 
in almost total silence — not because they are morose, or 
that they have not enough to say at other times — but 
simply because such has become their habit. Fast eat- 
ing and dyspepsia are very apt to be also habits of such 
a family. But even if these evils do not result, such 
meals are too business-like and unsocial. And here, as 
in all the social life of the family, the mistress must be 
the leader. She may think this is too much to lay upon 
her, as, of course, it is her place to see that no one is 
neglected in serving, and she has also to i^reside over 
the tea and coffee urns. But she need not bear the 
burden of the conversation, only be on the look-out to 
see that it is kept up. If it flags, a word or two from 
her will set it going again. Some ladies rather discour- 
age conversation at their tables, because it prolongs 



124 THE HOaiE. 

fche meals, thus taking time away from the beloved 
housework. But the additional pleasantness and health- 
fulness should be held in greater importance than get- 
ting the work all done in a given time. For a family 
to dispatch a breakfast in ten minutes, and a dinner in 
twenty, would, no doubt, be a very fine thing if they 
are Bedouin Arabs, but we fail to see what advantage it 
can possibly be if they are living in a settled and en- 
lightened community, while the disadvantages are many 
and obvious. 

It used to be the fashion, and is still the custom in 
some places, for the lad}^ of the house to remain in the 
dining-room for a while after the meals were concluded, 
to see that the table was properly cleared, and the 
dishes properly washed. It might be well to revive the 
old custom. Or, if this takes time that cannot well be 
spared from other duties, let the mistress, when her 
servant first comes to her, take it for granted that she 
knows nothing of this apj^arently simple service, and 
instruct her in every detail, and afterwards take time 
occasionally to see if her instructions are followed. 
This course will prevent much waste, dirt, and bad 
management. For the way for persons of moderate 
means to live generously and well, is not to waste any- 
thing. Collect butter and fat from the plates for mak- 
ing the future soap ; if nice pieces of meat are left upon 
the plates, put them aside for the beggars who come to 
your door ; and do not allow * the bread left upon the 
bread plates to be thrown away, but reserve it for pud- 
dings, or to crumb up for various dishes where bread 
crumbs are used. We do not advise gathering up the 
pieces of bread by the sides of the plates of the guests, 
to be used for these purposes, although this is recom. 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 125 

mended by a popular English cook-book. This might, 
we think, be called repulsive economy. If small salt- 
cellars are used for each person, see that the salt re- 
maining in them is thrown out, for servants often 
neglect this to save themselves the trouble of washing 
them. The plates should be well scraped before put- 
ting into the dish-pan, and the dregs thrown out of the 
cups and glasses. China should be washed in hot soap- 
suds, and rinsed in clear, hot water. Glass may be 
washed and rinsed in either cold or hot water, but 
must be wiped immediately. Dry with one towel and 
polish with another. Have a little brush convenient in 
case it should be needed for the crevicies of the raised 
ornamentation on the china, and for jugs in which the 
hand cannot be inserted, when, of course, the dish- 
cloth is not available. The knives should be cleaned 
after every meal, and the silver once a week. 

One thing more should be mentioned in regard to 
preparing the meals. You cannot make good things 
of bad ingredients. This is a royal rule that you will 
do well to bear in mind. Buy the best flour, butter, 
lard, bread, etc. It is the most economical plan, also, 
for not only do you use good things more carefully, but 
it often happens that the articles made of poor ingre- 
dients are so bad that they are not eaten, and you are 
compelled to throw them away. 

GIVING ENTERTAINMENTS. 

This phrase is generally supposed to mean giving 
dinners, supper parties, and the like, but we do not 
purpose placing upon it any limitation of this kind, but 
shall treat it in connection with the society which the 



126 THE HOME. 

heads of our house shall gather around them for the 
pleasure and benefit of the home circle. 

We wish that we could be sure that they would enter 
into society. For, leaving out the very fashionable 
classes among us, whose numbers are small, and who 
live in a round of gaiety, there is very little of what 
might be called society in most neighborhoods, either 
of city or country. Even wealthy families, with abund- 
ance of leisure, (and this is especially true of country 
places,) seem to think that nothing is required of .them 
except to live for themselves and families, and, possibly, 
a few friends ; and those families whose means are 
limited, find plenty of excuses for keeping aloof from 
society, in the claims that their daily duties make upon 
their time, and in the scantiness of their wardrobes. 
Among the young, unmarried people there is, perhaps, 
in the course of the year, a good deal of random, reck- 
less visiting, party-going, and attending places of 
amusement. But that is not society, properly speak- 
ing, as may be known from the fact that the acquaint- 
ances of one year are often an entirely different set from 
the last ; and, from the more telling fact that it is a very 
common thing in cities for a family of brothers and sis- 
ters each one to have a circle of his or her own friends 
with whom the others have only a casual acquaintance. 
Parents and sisters often know absolutely nothing 
about the friends of the son and brother. This cannot 
happen in the country where- everybody knows every- 
body, but there also there is no society that unites 
parents, brothers and sisters in one common bond. 

And, even this loose kind of society, Americans are 
apt to give up when they have passed their first youth 
— chiefly, no doubt, because it was so loosely put to- 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 127 

gether, and formed of such incongruous elements that 
it had no hold upon their lives. How common it is in 
the country to hear such remarks as the following : 
" This a dull neighborhood !'" " Nobody visits here." 
" We have no time for visiting — no way of getting 
about." And in cities we hear : " We are not a family 
who visit much." " You must not expect me to come and 
see you, for I have got into the habit of staying at 
home," etc. 

When society comprises only young, unmarried people 
it cannot last, and, in fact, never becomes what it 
should be — the controlling social power of a neighbor- 
hood. To have stabihty and influence it must comprise 
all ages above childhood. Then, when the young folks 
marry, instead of leaving it and sinking into obscurity, 
and thus gradually dissolving the society, they still re- 
main in it, playing a different role. It is only in America 
that society is so exclusively given up to the boys and 
girls. 

In the cities, and in country towns, there is no excuse 
for this state of things. In the latter, friends live near 
each other, and in the former the facilities for cheap 
travel are so great that distance is a matter of minor 
importance. Some excuse there is for famihes who 
live in real country neighborhoods, where friends 
are separated by several miles of rough road, and 
whose only reliance in going about is placed on one or 
two overworked farm-horses. But, if these families 
were all moved by a strong desire for social intercourse, 
it is probable that the rough roads would be made 
smoother, and, in making provision for yearly expenses, 
money would be set aside for keeping an extra horse. 
Money can be had for other things that the family 



128 THE HOME. 

greatly desire — an expensive piece of furniture per- 
haps — and why not for this x^urpose ? And, besides, 
there must sometimes be a way contrived for the young 
folks to pay a visit. Why not extend the contrivance 
throughout the year, and give all opportunities for en- 
joying society ? In this, as in very many other things, 
"where there's a will there's a way." 

But, you say you cannot afford to waste time that 
way ? Are you sure that it is a waste of time ? You 
need not join a society of spies who pick out each 
other's faults and gossip about them, nor yet a society 
of frivolous people who strive to out-do each other in 
extravagant dressing and costly entertainments. This 
would be worse than a waste of time. Two or three 
intelligent young women of tact and address can, 
even in one of the " dull" neighborhoods, form a society 
out of the materials they find there, the young and the 
old, the witty and the stupid, the elegant and the plain, 
the gay and the grave, the industrious and the idle, 
even taking in the gossips that will in a few years be 
pronounced " delightful " by every visitor to the place. 
The " tone " that they give it will be its own as long as 
it exists. 

Out of three hundred working days in the year 
can you not spare some time for recreation ? And do 
you not need it ? For your own sakes you should cul- 
tivate society, and have a moderate amount of pleasure- 
making throughout the year.- It will keep you young, 
fresh, and bright to throw aside cares and work some- 
times, and surely these are great gains. And good 
society is very improving — your mind will be more 
active than if you drew all its food from books. It is 
not necessary for this purpose that there should be 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 129 

formal meetings and solemn discourse. The lively talk 
of a huckleberry party, bent upon nothing but pleasure, 
if (Composed of people of fair intelligence, and moderate 
culture, will brighten you up for a month, and give 
you new ideas to think over. And, moreover, you learn 
to extend your sjanpathies beyond your own fireside. 
"With no less love for the home article your heart 
expands, and you enter into the joys and sorrows of 
your friends, and become more generous, tender, and 
helpful. 

^yhen your own children, or those in whom you take 
an interest, grow up, and enter into this society, you 
will feel assured that you have not wasted your time, 
whatever doubts may, until then, have lingered in your 
minds. How much better will it be to introduce them 
into a society that you helped to form yourself, and 
which you know to be good, than to have them going 
about wath associates of whom you know little or noth- 
ing, because you have chosen to lead a secluded hfe. 
And then, too, you will be with them, and you and the 
young people enjoy society together, with the same in- 
terests, the same friends, and, in some degree, the same 
amusements. Men and women of fifty do not gene- 
rally care for dancing, skating, and a few of the very 
active amusements of the young ; but there are a great 
many in which they would take pleasure as long as they 
were able to go about at all, if public opinion would only 
sanction them. And can you not help to form public 
opinion ? 

The expense of dressing sufficiently well for society 
is another excuse given for the selfish seclusion in 
which so many families live. This excuse has been ad- 
vanced by every family in particular neighborhoods. 



130 THE HOME. 

Now, it would seem that where all are equally badly 
off, according to their own showing, they might visit 
each other freely without fear of " odious comparisons." 
Nobody need be ashamed of a calico dress in a party 
where all dress in calico. At such a gathering the 
wearer of a silk dress would feel abashed. A man can 
enjoy himself quite as much in a homespun suit as in 
broadcloth, provided all his companions wear home- 
spun. And there are very few families in this land who 
have not better things in their wardrobes than calicoes 
and homespun. It is the fashion now everywhere to 
exaggerate the importance of dress. And yet we saw, 
not long ago, at a party, a bevy of girls dressed pre- 
cisely alike in clear white Swiss muslin dresses, made 
tastefully and simply (costing, when finished, ten dol- 
lars apiece) with no ornament save a cluster of green 
leaves where the dress was fastened at the throat, and 
with their own hair arranged in graceful styles, with 
not even a flower to help dress it. How pretty they 
all looked, and how they did enjoy themselves ! It is 
true that such a very simple toilette as this needs the 
beauty and freshness of youth to lend it grace, and 
older ladies must give a little more thought and labor 
to their adorning, but there is no need that it should 
be costly, nor must their dresses be loaded with a vast 
amount of trimming, nor need they be ashamed of 
wearing the same dress many times, if it is tasteful and 
becoming. Introduce into a pleasant circle of friends 
a spirit of display in dress, or style of entertaining, 
and it will dissolve like the dew. 

[The conditions on which the small " Sociables " 
have, of late years, been formed in cities and towns — 
I. e. placing limitations on dress and entertainments — 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 131 

might, we shoiikl think, be extended to inchide a large 
circle of acquaintances who wished to enjoy society on 
limited means.] 

We will suppose that you, young housekeepers, have 
builded or rented your house, furnished it, and duly 
ordered all things in it to the best of your ability ; and 
now, fully impressed with the ideas just expressed, are 
looking about to see what materials you have to help 
you in forming a pleasant society. If you are living 
near your old home, even if your parents had no so- 
ciety, and you have picked up your associates in the hap- 
hazard way so common among our young people, there 
are probably among them some two or three congenial 
spirits that you will like to entertain as friends, and 
with these for a nucleus, your society will soon be 
formed, for other congenial spirits will naturally gravi- 
tate towards it. For, in all these things, it is only the 
beginning that is troublesome. In a neighborhood that 
is new to you, you will have a struggle, and it will take 
a much longer time ; for you not only have to find out 
what are your neighbors' capabilities and tastes, but to 
work your way into their favor. The best plan will be 
to try to impress with your views some lady who is a 
power in the little community, and if you succeed in 
setting her to work, you may consider your purpose ac- 
complished. 

The next thing will be for the leaders in the enter- 
prise (there are sure to be a few who will be looked up 
to a-s leaders, without any desire on their part for the 
distinction) to devise amusements and occupations. 
For a round of visits to each other's houses, with no- 
thing but desultory chat and needlework for the women, 
and talk of politics and crops for the men, will soon be- 



132 THE HOME. 

come a weariness. The most delightful social meetings 
are those which have some object. 

In other countries it seems easy to supply these ob- 
jects, or rather, the people take naturally to certain 
amusements. In most of them dancing is a diversion 
that never palls, and old and young take part in it ; the 
men have games of strength and skill which everybody 
goes to see ; there are gardens in which they delight to 
assemble, and hold a sort of perpetual pic-nic ; there 
are musical gatherings at market places, village greens, 
and private houses ; there are flower shows, etc. 

But Americans do not patronize public gardens, or 
public out-door gatherings of any kind ; dancing is 
certainly not a national pastime ; and, although nearly 
all American girls are taught the piano, we are not a 
musical people. Our amusements must be confined to 
private circles, and, in general, those are best liked that 
require some little intelligence and skill. 

If you have a hobby on which you expect your so- 
ciety to ride, you will be defeated at once. You cannot 
expect to get together all the ladies and gentlemen of a 
neighborhood, old and young, wise and simple, and 
form them into a literary club, or an art circle, or a mu- 
sical society, or a scientific association, or a merry-go- 
round of dancing and fun. Here and there, possibly, 
will be found an individual of high culture, or one who 
has a decided taste for something ; but respectability, 
ordinary education, and good manners are all that you 
can expect from the majority. If the society is properly 
organized, a higher grade of culture will follow in time. 
But you will find on further acquaintance that each one 
of these mediocre people has a gift for doing some one 
thing very well. These gifts society will utilize. 



KEEriNG THE HOUSE. 133 

You have quite a variety of amusements and occu- 
pations from which to make a selection that will be best 
adapted to the tastes of your acquaintances. For coun- 
try society in the summer there are lawn parties, cro- 
quet parties, berrying-, botanizing, pic-nics, etc. In 
the cities the society will probably be broken up in the 
summer, on account of numerous absentees, but those 
who remain in town can organize private excursions 
that will be enjoyable and healthful. In the winter, for 
both city and country, there are tableaux, charades, 
ordinary parties, reading clubs, housekeepers' clubs ; 
and many others will suggests themselves. If you live 
in the country, try, if possible, to have a library. A 
small yearly subscription from a number of persons 
win, in a few years, lay the foundation of a good Li- 
brary. 

It may turn out at last that society will become too 
attractive to you, and instead of making an effort to 
go out you will have to make an effort to stay at home. 
This will be a most deplorable state of things, and, as 
soon as you detect the first symptoms indicating that 
society is laying too strong a hold on you, withdraw 
yourself from some of your diversions, and resolutely 
confine yourself to such only as will not encroach upon 
the time that should be given to your family. The 
home circle must be best and sweetest to you, and when 
we entreat you to cultivate society, we mean, of course, 
that it should be enjoyed in moderation. 

It will be seen from the above remarks that there 
are many ways of entertaining your friends besides 
feasting them. It is troublesome and costly to give 
dinner parties, and bails, and they do not yield as 
much enjoyment as the more informal gatherings. 



134 THE HOME. 

For lawn parties and summer evening entertainments, 
let the refreshments be simple. Sliced tongue, light 
biscuits or crackers, cakes, fruit, lemonade, or ice 
cream, jellies, custards, etc. Cooling drinks will be 
generally preferred, but you will find that rich, hot cof- 
fee, served some little time after the other refreshments, 
will meet with a cordial welcome. These light things 
will be all that your guests will expect if they are in- 
formally served — i.e.^ " handed around " or placed 
where they can help themselves. But, if you wish to 
set a table you should add some dishes a littl-e more 
substantial, such as pickled meats, potted game, cold 
chicken, chicken or lobster salad, etc. If you would 
like to 'have some hot dishes, and still avoid heavy 
meats, make fricandels, rissoles, or croquettes. These 
are dainty dishes, if well made, are inexpensive, and 
are always popular. After such an entertainment serve 
coffee, tea, and chocolate. 

For an informal winter evening party there is a still 
greater variety to choose from — light biscuit, rolls, cold 
turkey, canned fruits, apples, oranges, grapes, nuts, 
creams, coffee, etc. And, if you set a table, you can 
add to these oysters, raw and cooked, in some one of 
the numerous styles, game, cold, or hot, etc., etc. 

Even when you give an entertainment in which 
eating is supposed to play the most important part, 
it is not necessary to invite your friends to an elaborate 
dinner of a dozen courses. 

Some families have a way of inviting a few friends 
at a time to what they call "little suppers." And these 
charming affairs are remembered long after the stately 
dinner is forgotten. On such occasions the selection 
of the company is of the first importance. It will not 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 135 

do here to mix together the wise and the ignorant, the 
grave and the gay. The success of a " Httle supper " 
depends chiefly upon the guests being exactly suited to 
each other. But here, of course, where peojDle are 
especiall}^ invited to supper, that supper assumes greater 
importance than when they are invited to a musical 
party, tableau, etc., and will require study on the part 
of the housekeeper, skill in cooking, and taste in ar- 
ranging. And here, again, the dishes need not be 
costly. It is not rare dishes, or a great variety, that the 
" little supper " demands, but each one must be abso- 
lutely perfect, (what on ordinary occasions is a slight 
mistake here becomes a glaring fault;) the table must 
be handsomely set ; the guests properly placed, and the 
conversation never be allowed to flag. Heavy meats 
are not in good taste for a " little supper," or a variety 
of cakes and sweetmeats. The tea and coffee should 
be strong, the chocolate rich, the meats daintily pre- 
pared, mostly of French dishes, or American "made 
dishes," the gems, muffins, etc., should be delicate and 
crisp, the French rolls light, the glass and china should 
be sparkling, the table linen of fine white damask, and 
some pretty designs in flowers and fruit should grace 
the table. 

When you give a dinner party, it is best not to vary 
it much from your usual style of every-day serving. A 
greater quantity you must have, of course, and perhaps 
a greater variety, and you may desire to jDut on a few 
extra fancy touches, but do not attempt anything mag- 
nificent in the way of style unless you are accustomed 
to live in a stylish manner. If your usual dinner 
consists of but three courses, it will be well on this 
occasion to add a fourth, and follow the soup with 



J 36 THE HOME. 

fish, and the dessert of pies, pndding, creams, etc., 
should be followed by fruits, nuts, and raisins. And, 
beyond this, it is not necessary to turn out of your 
usual course. Your own servants and the extra ones 
you hire, know what to do with such a dinner as this, 
you see that everything is going on properly, and your 
mind is at ease so that you can take the leading part 
in entertaining your guests. And if everything is pre- 
pared in the best way, and nicely served, your guests 
will be much better pleased than if you had attempted 
a grand entertainment. For knowing what your 
every-day style of living was, they would only laugh at 
this spasmodic attempt at grandeur. If you are am- 
bitious to give a grand dinner, where the plates are to 
be changed for a dozen courses, (half of them senseless 
courses, where the dishes would be much more attrac- 
tive if put on the table together,) and the table re- 
arranged for each one dextrously and quietly, where 
there is a scanty supply of ignorant servants, and the 
stable boy or grocer's boy, as the case may be, plays 
the part of head-waiter, and where you have attempted 
to make the same beautiful designs as the confectioner 
furnishes for such dinners, without any of his tools, to 
say nothing of his long apprenticeship at the business, 
you may depend upon it that you are not playing so 
grand a part as you imagine. 

Tliere is a story told of a party of Indians, who were 
taken away from this country several years ago, and 
exhibited in various European cities. At last they ar- 
rived in Paris, and at their first exhibition they were 
surprised at the small degree of enthusiasm the audi- 
ence showed, although very attentive to all that was 
done. Finally, near the close of the performance, a 



KEEPING THE HOUSE. 137 

boy, unable to restrain himself any longer, cried out — 
" Look here ! Some of you fellows have sewed up your 
elbows with white thread ! Better dye it next time !" 
The performers stood aghast, and looked at each other. 
Too true ! The elbows of their false red skins having 
given way some time before, they had carelessly stitched 
them with white cotton, and their after exertions had 
stretched open the seams until there was a grinning 
row of ghastly white stitches. And it appeared that 
the audience had seen them from the first. This is a 
most astonishing instance of politeness in an audience, 
but then it was French ! American boys would have 
proclaimed the white thread the moment that the pre- 
tended Indians appeared. But this only helps to point 
the moral of the story. The habits of good society 
make your guests apparently blind, but you may be 
sure that they see the white ditches. 

Nothing on the table is exactly what it should be ; 
even the dishes that your cook ordinarily prepares ad- 
mirably are poor, because she has been made nervous 
by such extra demands upon her time and intelligence; 
the servants are awkward ; your family ill at ease, 
which throws a restraint over the guests ; and you 
are in a most lamentable state of mind, every moment 
on the look-out for some catastrophe. 

If you are determined to give dinners so out of pro- 
portion to the ordinary style of your household, make 
up your mind to do it properly, and to iMijfor it. Hire 
a fashionable caterer and give him carle blanche. He 
will supply cooks, waiters, and the best of every- 
thing. You can preside at your table with a mind at 
ease, and a serene countenance, and your dinner will 
be a great success— if you think it worth the price. 



PART VI. 

HOUSEHOLD MISCELLANIES. 

THE SEWING MACHINE. 

This ought just as surely to liave a place on your 
list of articles for housekeeping as the gridiron and 
wash-boiler. It should be ranked as one of the neces- 
sary expenses. The advertisements setting forth the 
various advantages of different manufactures are so 
widely scattered through the country that the oppor- 
tunity is given to all to read, and judge for themselves 
of their comparative merits. We pronounce no opinion 
in the case except this, that, while some are excellent, 
they are aU good, and that the very poorest, whichever 
that may be, is far better than none. They can be ob- 
tained now at almost any price, between ten dollars and 
a hundred. Whatever is beyond this is for costly wood, 
and fancy styles. 

It is a sinful waste of time to spend three days in 
making a garment that can be made in one by the help 
of the machine ; and, now that machines are so cheap, 
there is no excuse for spending so many precious hours 
on groups of tucks, and yards of hemming, felhng, 
stitching, cording, etc., etc. With a little care and 



HOUSEHOLD MISCELLANIES. 139 

good management any family can save ten dollars for 
such a purpose. Those who have been accustomed to 
having all their time filled up with an everlasting stitch, 
stitch, will be very much surprised at first to find that 
they actually get through their work sometimes, and 
absolutely have no sewing to do ! Perhaps they will 
not be altogether easy imder this new state of things, 
and imagine that they are growing lazy, but they will 
soon find that this world contains work to be done that 
is at least as important as sewing, and some of it more 
improving, and very much of it more healthful. 

A MEDICINE CHEST. 

This is also necessary. As the warm weather ap- 
proaches, you should see that it is provided with the 
proper medicines for summer complaints, and in win- 
ter with those best for colds, and their incidental ail- 
ments. 

Precisely what these shall be it is not the province of 
this book to say. Each family has its own favorite 
school of medicine. But do not select the contents of 
your chest from advertisements of quack nostrums that 
have worked marvellous cures. Consult your physician 
as to the medicines that will be useful on emergencies, 
for, of course, it is only for these and for slight com- 
plaints, easily understood, that your chest is to pro- 
vide. Many a life has been preserved by having at 
hand, and using promptly, the proper means and medi- 
cines for giving relief until the doctor comes, and many 
a limb has been saved by having lint, bandages, etc., 
just where one could at once lay hnnds upon them. A 
physician cannot always be procured at a few minutes' 
notice, and, in country places, it is sometimes hours be- 



14:0 THE HOIME. 

fore he arrives. Therefore have the medicine chest al- 
ways well provided, and do not keep the contents of 
any vial after you have reason to think there is a possi- 
bility of its being stale or worthless. Throw it out at 
once, and replenish, and when you do this, instead of 
grumbling at the waste of the money you paid for it, 
be devoutly thankful that you have the opportunity of 
thus disposing of it. Besides the physic, every medi- 
cine chest should contain some of the mustard plasters 
that are now sold ready prepared ; some good salve ; 
syringes ; soft flannels for rubbing ; a roll of old linen 
for bandages, and hnt. 

A CEDAR BOX. 

A desirable article to add to the regular furnishing is 
a cedar box, in which to lay all the woolen household 
goods and the woolen garments during the summer. 
You can then feel secure that your blankets, furs, etc. , 
will not be visited by moths. Country housekeepers 
can have these made at quite a low cost. A wardrobe 
lined with cedar, and with a division containing deep 
drawers of that wood, is of equal efficacy and much 
greater convenience, but will be rather a costly affair, 

STORE ROOM. 

Every house should have a store room, built for that 
purpose, convenient to the kitchen and dining-room. 
It should be about nine feet square, with a high ceiling, 
and thick walls. A northern exposure is best when 
practicable. But, as half the houses are built without 
the least reference to the storing of provisions, a 
room, must generally be improvised for the purpose. It 



HOUSEHOLD MISCELLANIES. 141 

may be that yon will find some closet or tiny room that 
answers all the requirements, but the probability is that 
there will be nothing of the kind ; and then you will 
very likely be obliged to have two — a cool and a dry 
one. Make a closet in one corner of the cellar, by hav- 
ing two sides of a partition built, and a door cut in one 
side, and the necessary number of shelves put up. 
Here you can keep those articles- that require to be in a 
cool place, and that dampness will not injure ; and 
some up-stairs closet, that is not too close and hot, must 
be set apart for those articles that require a very dry 
place. It is a good plan to have a store-room book, 
containing a full list of all your possessions, that you 
may know what has been used, and what is still on 
hand, and on what particular shelf of what particular 
closet is the precise jug, jar, or box which you w^ant at 
that precise moment. The inventory will have to be 
taken every year, in the early part of the fall, after 
the store of canned fruits, preserves, pickles, etc., is 
laid in. 

A ROOM FOR THE SICK. 

When treating of bedrooms, some suggestions were 
thrown out in regard to furnishing a room for a chronic 
invalid for whom, for a great part of the year, perhaps 
one apartment serves- for parlor, dining-room, and bed- 
room. But a room for the sick is a different affair, al- 
though many rules that will apply to the one will also 
serve for the other. The room referred to under our 
heading, is for a temporary illness, which threatens 
to be somewhat violent in character. It is not meant 
that any one room of the house should be set apart and 
furnished with a special view to using it for a hospital. 



142 THE HOME. 

But when a member of a family is taken ill, the ques- 
tion is often asked anxiously : " What is the best room 
for him ?" and also : " What can we do to make him 
most comfortable ?" 

In providing for this exigency two things are to be 
considered — the comfort of the patient ; and the con- 
venience of nursing him. A first floor room is the most 
desirable for convenience, and is generally cooler for 
summer use, but it is not as likely to be dry and airy as 
an upper apartment. [For a room may be cool and 
not airy.] And it has the great disadvantage that it 
is impossible to entirely shut out noises. It is usually 
best, then, to select a bedroom on the second floor, the 
hghtest and airiest, either for winter or summer use.- If 
there is one with an open fire-place, by all means give 
that the preference. If there is no fire-place have a 
small stove put up, for even in summer there are 
" wet spells " in which dampness will penetrate every 
nook and crevice, and the only way to counteract its 
bad effects is to make a wood fire for a little while. 
Half an hour a day is often sufiicient. Wood is best 
to burn in winter also, as gases will sometimes arise 
from coal, notwithstanding all our care. A wood fire 
can also be attended to with less noise. We have 
lately seen an excellent suggestion in regard to replen- 
ishing a coal fire in a sick-room. It is to keej) on hand 
a number of small paper bags filled with lumps of 
coal, and lay them on the fire as wanted. These bags 
can be filled down stairs, and a scuttleful of them 
brought up instead of the loose coal. 

Gas is the most desirable light for a sick-room, and 
where there is no gas, use good, clear lard oil, or can- 
dles of paraffine, or sperm. It is best to have one of 



HOUSEHOLD MISCELLANIES. 



143 



these ready to be lighted even where gas or a lamp is 
used, as the former may suddenly fail, and the latter 
become clogged or smoky. Never use kerosene oil in a 
sick-room. Next to the gas a taper is best when a 
dim light is required. Get those made with a wax base 
about two inches in diameter, and an inch in height, 
from which rises a little pyramid of wax with a wick 
in the centre. One of these will burn ten hours. No 
improvised tapers can compare with these, and it would 
be a good idea to keep some of them in the medicine 
chest that they may be ready when wanted. But, if 
these are not at hand, cat a newspaper into small 
square pieces, and twist them around the finger into a 
sugar-loaf shape. Immerse the base in a saucer half 
filled with melted lard, leaving the apex about an inch 
above the surface. It is said that sycamore balls make 
very good tapers when saturated with melted lard. 

It is best not to have a carpet on the floor of a sick- 
room, but this is a rule that admits of many exceptions. 
Not so, however, in regard to woolen hangings, 
which are inadmissible in a sick-room ; and woolen 
upholstery of all kinds is to be avoided. If the cur- 
tains are of lace or thin muslin they may remam, 
but if of any heavy material they should be removed. 

The shades at the windows will generally be found 
sufficient for excluding the light in connection with 
the shutters (either outside or inside.) But if it is 
desirable to have the room quite dark at times, make a 
plain curtain of some dark cotton stuff— one that will 
slip noiselessly on a string, or that can be taken down 
in a moment. 

Feather beds are held by most persons at this present 
day to be very unhealthful contrivances, although they 



144 THE HOME. 

still have some quite able champions who argue to the 
contrary. "Whatever they may be to the healthy, there 
can scarcely be two opinions in regard to their being 
very bad for the sick. Even their advocates say that 
they should be well beaten and thoroughly aired every 
day, and this in a sick-room is clearly impossible. And 
it is almost impossible to nurse a sick person on a fea- 
ther bed. A hair mattress is not as absorbent as 
feathers, has no odor of its own, and is "manageable 
with little effort. It should be laid on springs, and will 
probably require another mattress under it. Hair is 
best for this, but wool or even cotton will do if new, or 
nearly so. 

Have the bedstead out from the wall, and as near 
the centre of the room as convenient, and in placing 
the bedstead due attention must be given to the 
draughts in the room. The most desirable spot is 
where there is the most air with the least draught, and 
it should be so placed that the light will not shine in 
the patient's eyes. Let there be no furniture in the 
room that is not absolutely necessary. 

Keep the medicines on a little table behind the bed 
head, where they will be convenient, and yet out of 
sight of the patient. 

The nurse must have a time-piece, but a loud ticking 
clock is often a great annoyance to a sick person. 

These directions apply to the room of a very sick 
person, where only his immediate comfort and the 
things that tend to his restoration are considered. As 
he convalesces the articles of furniture can gradually 
be restored to their places, the dingy window-hanging 
replaced by something lighter and brighter, and all 
sorts of pretty things may be gathered into the room. 



HOUSEHOLD MISCELLANIES. 145 



SECOND-HAND FDENITURE. 



Young housekeepers hold second-hand furniture iu 
too great contempt, while older houskeepers, who have 
learned the value of money, are apt to hold it in too 
great respect. A great deal of money is spent in the 
aggregate by " managing " housekeepers who buy up 
unsightly, old-fashioned, rickety furniture "for a trifle" 
for each article. Half of it is good for nothing but fire- 
wood, and what remains is botched up by some cabinet- 
maker and placed about the house to disfigure it by in- 
herent ugliness. Others who are on the lookout for 
something better than this spend hours at auction rooms 
for days and days until at last they secure one or two 
things and consider they have done well if they have 
saved a few dollars thereby. Clearly to them time is 
not money. And it very often happens that these 
things, that are such wonderful bargains, turn out to be 
dearer than the brand-new ones at the furniture- dealers, 
or " there is a screw loose somewhere." On the other 
hand, where second-hand furniture has been well kept 
and looks fresh, and where the proper reduction is 
made in the price, and where you are sure it is good, it 
is often of great advantage to buy it instead of the new, 
because for the same price you can not only get a 
handsome article, but a better made one. 

If you are purchasing from a friend, you may buy 
without fear what you choose ; but there are certain ar- 
ticles that should never be bought at second-hand at 
an auction, or from a regular dealer— bedding, bed- 
steads, carpets, oil-cloths, and upholstered furniture. 
In connection with this subject it may be mentioned 



146 THE HOME. 

that many writers lay down as an excellent rule that 
one must never buy what are called 

BARGAINS. 

But this is requiring too much of human natui'e ; 
and besides it is a very good thing to get a good bar- 
gain provided you have come by it honestly, and in 
good faith, and not by overreaching, or fraud, or taking 
an unfair advantage of the unfortunate. A better 
rule would be never to buy any article merely because it 
is a bargain. 

HOW TO MAKE CARPETS. 

The fashion of binding carpets is obsolete. It has 
been found that they wear much better by being simply 
turned in and tacked down. Lay two breadths on the 
floor, and match the figures accurately ; then with a 
carpet needle and thread tack the breadths together in 
several places, generally at points and intersections of 
figures, by taking a stitch or two, and then tying the 
ends of the thread into a knot. This must be done se- 
curely, so there is no danger that the figures will slip 
out of place when you turn the carpet over to sew it. 
If, in tacking this way, you find that one edge is 
fuller than the other, so that it will necessarily " pucker" 
when sewed, do not be alarmed, for it will all come 
right. Your first business is to match the figures at 
all hazards. Having done this you can cut the two 
breadths apart. Then lay down the third breadth, 
match the figures, and tack in the same manner ; and 
so on, until all the breadths are tacked and cut. In 
laying down the breadths you must allow a little at 
each end for turning in. Now turn your carpet on the 



HOUSEHOLD MISCELLANIES. 147 

wrong side, and sew the breadths together, with an 
over-seam, or by iDutting the needle through one edge 
and bringing it back through the other. 

The stitches should not be taken through the whole 
thickness, unly the under half. In this way the stitches 
can lie closely, and the edges be securely fastened to- 
gether, without danger of drawing open when laid down, 
and yet the seam will not be heavy, nor the thread show 
on the right side. 

When a carpet is tacked down, it should be stretched 
rather tightly, or it will rub up in folds and wrinkles, 
after being walked over for a few days. The figures 
will be your best guide in this, for they must, of course, 
run in straight lines, and not be drawn out of shape. 

After the carpet is tacked down, you will find, in most 
cases, that the puckers in the seams have disappeared, 
but if they have not, they generally will in a few days ; 
if, however, they are very obstinate, wet them with 
clean cold water, and, when the carpet dries, you will 
find it is smooth. 

HOW TO DO UP LACE OR MUSLIN CURTAINS. 

Before the curtains are put in the wash, tack all 
around them narrow strips of white cotton cloth, an 
inch or two wide. Dissolve a httle soda in milk-warm 
Abater, and put in the curtains. Let them remain for 
half an hour, stirring and pressing them occasionally. 
Wring them very carefully — rather squeezing than 
wringing, whenever this process is to be performed. 
Place them in cold water for an hour. Then wash them 
with soap and warm water (but not hot). Wash again 
in clean water, rather hotter than the last. Rinse them 



148 THE HOME. 

in bluing water (only slightly blue, unless the curtains 
are very yellow). Wring carefully in clean towels. 
They are now ready for starching. Make the starch 
according to the usual process, but be sure to have it 
clear, and good, and thin, for muslin, and very thin for 
lace. Thick starch is utterly destructive to the fine, 
soft appearance of the lace. Stir a few times round in 
the starch, while boiling, a wax or sperm candle, or put 
into it a small piece of white wax. If the latter is used, 
it should be melted and poured in. When the starch 
is ready, pour half of it into one pan, and half into 
another. Dip the curtains in one ; wring them out in 
towels ; then dip into the second, and wring again. On 
the floor of an unoccupied room spread a couple of 
sheets, one under the other, for each curtain, 6r rather, 
half of a curtain. A large sheet folded may be wide 
enough. Shake the* curtain, with assistance from some 
one, and lay it down smoothly, the edges of the cotton 
cloth to the edges of the sheet. Pin down the top and 
back. The other sides will then come perfectly straight 
without pinning. Leave them to dry ; and then re- 
move the strips of cloth, and hang the curtains to the 
windows at once. They should not be folded. If you 
should desire to put them away for a while, roU them 
lightly in a loose, soffc roll, and wrap in blue paper, or 
cotton, the former preferable ; but, in both instances, 
assure yourself that the blue dye does not rub off ; and 
lay them where no weight will press against them. 

MATTING. 

Matting should never be washed with anything but 
salt and water — a pint of salt to half a pailful of soft 



HOUSEHOLD MISCELLANIES. 149 

water, moderately warm. Dry quickly with a soft cloth. 
Twice during the season will probably be sufficient 
washing for a bedroom, but a room much used will re- 
quire it somewhat ofteuer. 

OIL-CLOTH 

Is ruined by the application of lye soap, as the lye eats 
the cloth, and, after being washed, it should be wiped 
perfectly dry, or the dampness will soon rot it. If laid 
down where the sun will shine on it much, it will be apt 
to stick fast to the floor, unless paper is laid under it. 

OILED FURNITURE. 

When oiled walnut begins to grow dingy, it can be 
made to look as fresh as new b}^ re-oiling. Linseed, or 
even olive oil can be used, but pure, good kerosene oil 
is much the best. Rub it well in with a soft woolen 
rag, and polish with clean, dry flannel. 

SILVER. 

Silver should never be allowed to grow dingy, and 
need not, if properly washed after every meal. Wash 
in veiy hot soft water, with hard soap. Wipe hard and 
quickly, on a clean towel, and polish with dry flannel. 
If discolored with egg, mustard, etc., rub out the stain 
with a small, stiff brush, and silver soap, or whatever 
you use for cleaning silver ; then wash off in hot water, 
wiiDe, and polish. Use soft towels. This is for the 
articles in common use. Once a week have all the 
silver cleaned. If you wish to place silver away for 



150 THE HOME. 

any lengtli of time, wrap each article in blue paper, and 
it will keep a good color. 

GILT FKAMES. 

Boil three or four onions in a pint of water, then 
with a clean paint brush wash over your frames, and 
the flies will not alight on them. No injury will result 
to the frames. This renders unnecessary the unsightly 
drapings of gauze. 

BEDS 

Should be carefully examined very frequently, especially 
during the summer months, by the housekeeper, as ser- 
vants neglect this duty altogether, or perform it care- 
lessly. It is difficult to get rid of bed-bugs when they 
have once fairly established themselves in a house. 
Even new houses are sometimes infested by them, as 
there are certain kinds of wood in which they make 
their home, and thus their nests are built into the 
house. But they can be driven entirely off the field, if 
the war is only carried on briskly enough, and persisted 
in for a long time. When you think the last foe has 
yielded, and you have rested for a while on your laurels, 
you will be surprised some day to find one skirmishing 
on the sheet, or perhaps on your best shawl, and on in- 
vestigation you will discover that he is only the ad- 
vanced guard of a whole regiment lying in ambush in 
some secure retreat. Even if you do not see one for 
the remainder of that summer, you have no security 
that they will not appear the next spring in apparently 
undiminished force. But do not give way to despair ; 
keep fighting, and you will be victorious at last. When 
one fails to make its appearance in a house for the whole 



HOUSEHOLD MISCELLANIES. 151 

of a summer, you may congratulate yourself that the 
foe is completely routed. Here, again, there is no ab- 
solute security. You have certainly destroyed all the 
native inhabitants, but you do not know what day there 
may come a foreign importation. So you must keep a 
good lookout. Eternal vigilance is certainly the price 
of fi'eedom from bed-bugs. 

Hot steam is the best thing for driving these crea- 
tures from the walls of houses. A small steaming ap- 
paratus can be bought for an inconsiderable sum, or 
with a little ingenuity one can be fitted up at the cost 
of a dollar or so. Use it freely, and scald out every 
corner and crevice, from garret to cellar, quite fre- 
quently, until you feel sure that they are entirely dis- 
lodged ; and after that, once or twice a year will be 
sufficient. 

The persistent use of scalding water on bedsteads, 
pouring it on the slats, and springs, and joinings, (the 
bedstead must be often taken apart for this purpose,) 
will prove effectual in time, if no other means are used. 
But there are various substances employed to hasten the 
desired result. Corrosive sublimate — an ounce of it to 
a half pint of alcohol — is an old remedy, and effectual. 
So is quicksilver, beaten up with the whites of eggs. 
But both of these are deadly poisons, and housekeepers 
are afraid to use them. Persons very sensitive to poi- 
sons have been made sick by sleeping on bedsteads 
where corrosive sublimate had been recently applied. 
Some use hartshorn, but this injures paint and varnish. 
Some use nothing but salt and water, and others assert 
that kerosene oil is a sovereign remedy. 

There are various powders sold that are effectual as 
bug destroyers, but housekeepers usually find them 



152 THE HOME. 

very unreliable ; one package will be all tliat it claims 
to be, and another of the same kind of powder, bought 
at the same place, will be good for nothing. Some- 
times this is because the powder has been adulterated, 
but generally because it has become stale. And these 
are, also, often very poisonous. One of the most popu- 
lar of these, however, the Persian Insect Powder, is 
perfectly harmless to human beings, and is a deadly 
poison to all insects that infest houses. It is imported 
into this country from the East, and is prepared from a 
flower of the same genus as our Feverfew. But a great 
deal of this that is sold is good for nothing, also. If you 
can buy it in the original packages in which it was im- 
ported, you may feel pretty sure that it is good. 

Mattress covers should be washed every month or 
two, but so arrange it that all will not be in the wash at 
the same time. 

Sheets must be thoroughly aired before putting away, 
must be kept in a perfectly dry place, and should not be 
put upon the bed any length of time before they are to 
be used. 

When a guest has left, and a bedroom is to be unoc- 
cupied for a time, fold up the bed-spread and blankets, 
and lay them carefully away ; and, having sent the 
sheets, bolster, and pillow cases to the wash, put on the 
pillows slips made of calico, and spread over mattress 
and bolster a covering made of the same. Thus every- 
thing will be kept clean until wanted again. 

Mattresses should be exposed to the air every day, 
and have a good airing once a week ; and sometimes 
should be put out for a whole day in the sun and wind. 
In the case of invalids, where this cannot well be done, 
hair mattresses can be used without it longer than any 



HOUSEHOLD MISCELLANIES. 153 

other. But here, if there are two beds, one can be 
spared sometimes for a good airing-. 

FEATHER BEDS. 

These ought to be cleaned every spring. There are 
several waj'S of doing this, but the following is recom- 
mended, as it cleans both tick and feathers : Contrive, 
if possible, some sort of a platform, that you can set up 
in the yard, on which to lay your beds for cleaning or 
airing. Failing this, use a back porch. Wash the plat- 
form clean, and lay on it the feather bed, and let it re- 
main there during the night in the dew. In the morn- 
ing, before the dew is off, take a pail of clean, cold, soft 
water, and, with a new whisk broom, wet and rub the 
upper side of the bed for some time. Let it lie in the 
sun until it is dry, which will not be for several hours. 
Turn it over and treat the other side in the same way, 
and continue the p)rocess until the white stripes in the 
ticking look as clean as new. This treatment of the 
feathers makes them " lively." 

If there is any indication of rain, the bed must be 
taken into the house. And, if you are afraid to leave 
the bed out at night, because of thieves, the dew must 
be dispensed with in the treatment. 

FEATHER PILLOWS. 

The best way to wash these is to put them out in a 
good hard rain for several hours ; and then wring them 
out, and dry quickly, that they may not get musty. 

VASES. 

It may not be generally known that bright-colored 



154 THE HOME. 

vases, and those ornamented with flowers, do not show 
off real flowers to the best advantage. White or brown 
are best for this purpose. 

FIRES. 

Fires should be kindled at least once a week in every 
room through fall and winter, to prevent dampness. 

DISINFECTANTS. 

These should never be left more than a week un- 
changed, as they throw out the poisons they gather. 

THE STOVE UEN. 

Keep the stove urn nearly filled with water, as long 
as the fire is kept up in the stove. Put a little char- 
coal also in the urn, and this ought to be changed every 
week. 

WALL PAPERS. 

Old paper should be removed from the walls before 
the new is put on. It can easily be done by wetting it 
with warm water. After it is all off, have the plaster 
wiped over with carbolic acid, to purify it. The dis- 
agreeable odor of the acid will disappear almost imme- 
diately, and you can then feel sure there is nothing in- 
fectious lurking in your walls. Use corn-starch paste 
for putting on the new paper, as it does not turn sour, 
or stain the paper. 

COVERING FOR A STOVE. 

Even the prettiest stove is not in itself a very beauti- 
ful object. In the cold weather when there is a fire 



HOUSEHOLD MISCELLANIES. 155 

burning in it all the time and it gives a pleasant sen- 
sation of warmth to the occupants of the room, they for- 
give its ugliness, and regard it with very friendly feelings ; 
but in summer it stands out in cold, cheerless deformity. 
And yet if there are no open fire-places, the stove 
should be left standing in, at least, one room all sum- 
mer to be in readiness for the cold " north-easters " 
when the whole house seems pervaded with dampness, 
which a little fire will soon dissipate. In the fall, too, 
the stove ought to be put up in the sitting-room very 
early, and the fuel laid in it all ready for lighting 
whenever there is a chilly evening. To conceal the 
stove, when not in use, you can make a covering for it 
somewhat in the following style : 

Have a light pine frame made, consisting of a square 
or oval top, on which are fitted three or four legs a 
little higher than the stove. Drape this frame with 
any pretty material that is sufiiciently thick to conceal 
the stove. The under drapery must be tacked on 
quite full, and should fall to the floor ; the upper must 
be still fuller to drape gracefully. Arrange the festoons 
in any style you fancy, only take care that some of 
them shall fall nearly to the bottom of the under dra- 
pery, or else your stand will look " lanky." Trim with 
woolen or cotton cord, according to material used, and 
hang tassels wherever they will be effective. 

Before the drapery is put on, the top of the stand 
should be rubbed perfectly smooth, and then stained 
with black walnut stain. 

This frame can be removed easily whenever a fire is 
needed. A vase of flowers or grasses can stand on the 
top. 



156 THE HOME. 



A GEATE FOE WOOD FIRES. 

Any country blacksmith can make a grate as de- 
scribed below, and it will be found of the greatest ad- 
vantage where wood fires are used. 

A broad strong iron bar is secured from side to side 
of the fire-place, and directly in front, about six inches 
above the hearth. From this bar others of less dia- 
meter, and about four or five inches apart, extend at 
right angles to the back of the fire-place, where they 
are fastened in the wall, or to a transverse bar, or se- 
cured properly upon bricks. No andirons are needed 
with a grate of this kind ; the wood burns well ; and 
the ashes fall down, and are easily removed. 

If a second bar is fixed a few inches above the large 
front bar, the danger of the wood rolling forward, and 
out of the fire-place will be averted. 



PART VII, 
OKNAMENTAL WOEK. 

Useful articles of furniture can sometimes be made 
of apparently unpromising materials — sofas out of old 
chairs, arm-chairs out of barrels, lounges of packing- 
boxes, by those who have some mechanical ingenuity. 
But these things have not only been so often described 
that it is not now necessary to treat of them, but we do 
not consider that they enter into the plan of a well- 
furnished house. As a rule they are make-shifts, and 
nothing more, and though they will do very well in 
certain cases to J&ll up a vacancy in the house-furnish- 
ing, they are not to be relied upon as real, satisfactory 
fui-niture, such as we advise for a home. 

But with ornamental work the case is very different. 
With natural good taste and some practice, very beau- 
tiful things can be made that will compare favorably 
with costly articles from the shops. And the work is 
in itself fascinating. Nearly every woman, young and 
old, has some particular hobby in the way of orna- 
mental work from making patchwork quilts to em- 
broidering altar cloths. Very many men, too, have a 
passion this way, but while the ladies instinctively take 



158 THE HOME. 

to needle and thread, the gentlemen turn to knives 
and saws ; and while the former are moulding wax, 
and pressing flowers, the latter apply themselves to 
planes and turning-lathes, and to the moulding of 
wood. 

Where both male and female members of a family 
have these tastes a house is likely to be well filled with 
ornaments, and, if these are tastefully and artistically 
made, and put into their proper places, (a very im- 
portant part of the process,) this is one of the surest 
means of converting a mere dwelling into a pleasant- 
looking home. 

It would be impossible, except in a work especially 
for this purpose, to give directions for making the nu- 
merous articles of household adornment ; and, where 
there is so much that is attractive, it is difficult to 
select those that are most desirable, for what one might 
fancy, another might not. 

In these directions, therefore, we shall only give some 
general ideas, and a few samples, and these not with a 
view that they shall be exactly copied, but taken as they 
are meant — as suggestions — materials with which to 
work out far more beautiful results. 

These simple hints, your own good taste, and the 
numerous patterns and designs that you see in your 
friends' houses, or find floating about in magazines and 
papers, will be sufficient to furnish you employment for 
many a leisure hour, and will help you to ornament 
your home at a small expense. 

WOOD CARVING. 

We begin with this, because it is the most beautiful 
of fancy household work, and because the most useful 



ORNAMENTAL WORK. 



159 



ornamental articles are made of wood. For, because a 
thing is ornamental, it does not follow that it is not 
also useful ; and vice verm. 

All boys (American boys, at least) manifest a decided 
taste for whitthng-, often greatly to the annoyance of 
their elders. As they grow into manhood they generally 
leave off whittHng, with other childish things, (foreign 
writers to the contrary, notwithstanding.) The trait is 
only mentioned here to show that it is born in them 
as much as nursing dolls is in girls ; and to account 
for the fact that so many men have a natural gift for 
cutting and carving wood. It is the whittling grown 
into an art with the natural growth of the mind. Fur- 
nish such men with a pen-knife, and a few old cigar- 
boxes, and they will retui-n you prettily carved brack- 
ets, picture-frames, etc. Very few women turn thus 
instinctively to such work, but if their attention is di- 
rected into this channel after some practice and with 
proper tools, (for with a pen-knife they would be power- 
less) the majority make very respectable wood carvers, 
and some become quite accomphshed and skillful ar- 
tists. And as women, as a rule, have more leisure than 
men, or perhaps we should say that the most of their 
leisure is passed within the home, it usually happens 
that the ornamental work falls largely into their hands. 
The actual work of wood-carving is purely mechani- 
cal, and only requires care and nicety in cutting, and a 
very moderate supply of patience. It is in designing 
the patterns and in putting the pieces of carved 
wood together that your genius and taste are called 
into use. If you do not possess the former— for 
this particular thing— perhaps you have some friend 
who can draw designs for you ; and, if not, you can 



160 THE HOME. 

buy them in infinite variety. Even in the matter 
of putting together you can obtain directions so expHcit 
that you will have to take great pains to go wrong ; 
but it is best to trust to your taste, and cultivate it by 
using it. For this is one useful purpose of all work 
that is known as "fancy." 

First, in regard to the wood. This can be generally 
obtained from any cabinet-maker or carpenter. The 
former will probably have the greatest variety and the 
finest qualities. In country places you may not be able 
to obtain the foreign woods, but you can get Walnut, 
Oak, Chestnut, Butternut, Appletree, Cedar, Holly, and 
others. It will be well at first for you to consult with 
the man from whom you purchase in regard to the 
properties of the different woods, some being hard, and 
others soft, some soiling very easily with use, and 
others being difficult to pohsh, or varnish ; but you will 
soon learn these things yourself. Wood varies in 
price, but none of the American woods are expensive. 
The most beautiful — and most costly — of the foreign 
woods are satinwood, rosewood, and ebony. But the 
latter being very effective, a little of it may be made to 
go a great way by using it for tiny centre-pieces, nar- 
row mouldings, etc. Satinwood is also effective, but 
easily soiled, and is employed for dainty finishings of 
articles that are to be little used. 

With some pieces of wood, pretty patterns, and in- 
expensive tools you can cut very respectable Easels, 
Brackets, Picture-Frames, Letter-Holders, Book-Eacks, 
and numerous other small articles, and also ornaments 
for larger pieces of furniture. 

Sand -paper for rubbing the wood smooth, and 
cement for mending breakages, will also be necessary. 



ORNAMENTAL WORK. IGl 

The small saws are about twenty cents a dozen. 
They cannot be used without a frame in which to place 
them to steady them ; and you will have to practice 
some time before you will be satisfied with your work. 
But it can be done well with a little patience. Those 
who wish to go extensively into this business, or a 
club of persons who desire to work together would do 
well to purchase a jig-saw at twenty-five dollars. This 
not only saws wood but soft metals ; is mounted on a 
table like a sewing machine ; and is worked somewhat 
in the same way. With this, wood-carving is very easy 
and fascinating work ; and you may aspire to making 
really beautiful things. 

But as this work will probably be found of too elabo- 
rate a nature, except for those who have a great deal of 
leisure, we will presently suggest some simpler orna^ 
mental work. 

But, first we will give a few directions that will help in 
making a variety of things, both useful and ornamental. 

BLACK WAIiNUT STAIN. 

We give this first because it is useful for staining al- 
most any article of furniture, and many ornaments ; 
besides floors, woodwork, etc. It will impart to com- 
mon wood, such as pine, the color and appearance of 
black walnut. 

One quarter of a pound of asphaltum, one half 
pound of common beeswax to one gallon of turpentine. 
If found too thin add beeswax ; if too hght in color add 
asphaltum, though that must be done with caution, as a 
very little will make a great difference in the shade, as 
the wood should not be black, but a rich dark brown. 
Black is the color of the nut, and not the wood. 



162 THE HOME. 

Varnisliing is not essential, as the wax gives a good 
gloss. 

TO POLISH WOOD. 

This is rather a tedious process, and the best 
plan is to give it to a regular polisher. But if you wish 
to undertake it yourself, you will need some shellac 
(dark or light, according to your wood) dissolved in 
alcohol ; some sweet oil, old linen, a little cotton wool, 
alcohol, and sand-paper. 

First rub with sand-paper until the wood is perfectly 
smooth and soft. 

Make a dabber of the cotton wool, cover it with the 
linen, and tie it firmly ; wet it with the shellac and one 
drop of sweet oil, and rub the wood with a quick, even 
pressure, in circles, all over the surface. The only 
point is that the polish must be distributed evenly and 
quickly, and the same amount of rubbing given to every 
part. Continue the wetting and rubbing until the wood 
begins to reflect. The next day repeat the process, 
leaving intervals for absorption, till the reflection is as 
perfect as glass. When you are satisfied, take a fresh 
dabber, dampen it slightly with alcohol, and rub it softly 
and evenly over the wood ; it will bring out the polish, 
and fix it. You must put on polish enough before 
using the alcohol, as you cannot put on any afterwards. 

ASPHALTUM VAJINISH. 

One half a pound of asphaltum and one pint of tur- 
pentine are used for making this varnish. They can 
be obtained at a paint-shop or carriage maker's. Put 
the asphaltum into a tin basin, and pour on some of 



ORNAMENTAL WORK. 163 

the turpentine ; let it remain over night, and if well 
dissolved, try it with a brush on a piece of the same 
kind of wood or leather for which you are prej^aring it. 
When put on, it should be the color of black walnut. 
If it is too dark, add turpentine ; if too light, asphal- 
tum. The proper proportions can only be known by 
thus experimenting. Apply one or two coats, as may 
be necessary. 

TO MAKE LEATHER LEAVES. 

Soak a piece of sheepskin in water until it is pliable. 
Cut a paper pattern of a leaf ; lay it on the leather, and 
cut. A carpenter's gouge is a good thing for the pur- 
pose. 

When dry and stiff, varnish with asphaltum. These 
are used for picture frames, and for ornamenting the 
edges of book shelves, the tops of book cases, brackets, 
and a variety of things. 

PLAIN LEATHER ORNAMENTS. 

Get a piece of calfskin, and moisten it in warm 
water until soft and pliable. You can then cut it into 
scallops, diamonds, or any fashion you may admire. 
You can varnish with asphaltum, or leave it the natural 
color, which will deepen with age. 

ACORNS. 

These are often used for picture frames, baskets, etc., 
and also for mixing with leather leaves. The nuts and 
cups are glued together, and then glued to the wood. 
They are very pretty, but do not pay for the trouble of 
making, as they soon fall apart. 



164 THE HOME. 



PINE CONES. 

These are also mucli used for decorating, and are 
very handsome when varnished, but if glued on, are 
liable to fall off after some time. They can sometimes 
be tacked on. They should be mixed with other things, 
and, for most purposes, the small ones are the prettiest. 
The scales of the large cones are very pretty, each 
scale nailed on with small u^Dholsterer's tacks, first 
boring the holes, so as not to split the wood. 

FOE OKNAMENTATION. 

Besides the above, there are many small things used 
for decorating, such as unroasted coffee beans, small 
black beans, kernels of rice ; and these, if well glued 
on, are not as apt to fall off as the heavier cones and 
acorns. These can be arranged in geometrical figures, 
rosettes, balls, and almost any way that fancy may sug- 
gest. Varnish with asphaltum, or black varnish, if you 
prefer it, which can be procured at any paint-shop. 
Cloves, allspice, and berries are strung on wires and 
twisted into scallops, double scallops, diamonds, etc., 
for edging and borderinga 

EUSTIO WOEK. 

This is chiefly used for ornamenting large hanging 
baskets, aquariums, flower stands, and lawn tables, set- 
tees, and chairs ; and sometimes for smaller articles, 
such as boxes and picture frames. The materials are 
sticks of various woods, either flat or round, generally 
oiled and varnished, but sometimes with the bark left 
on. Twigs of various woods are freely employed ; these 



ORNAMENTAL WORK. 1C)5 

have the bark on, and may be straight or bent, according 
to effect desired ; birch, hazel, and silver poplar are 
among the prettiest. Willow wands are easy to work 
with, and grape vines are not difficult to manage. These 
can be used with or without the bark. It is better to 
oil all wood from which the bark is stripped, but this 
is not absolutely necessary. Bits of rattan, strips of 
lath, pine cones, acorns, walnut shells sawed in pieces, 
walnut hulls, (sphtintwo,) are all employed in rustic 
work ; and other materials will doubtless suggest them- 
selves to those who have any knowledge of wood-craft« 
Asphaltum varnish will be found best on most rustic 
work, but for variety, black varnish, or even paint may 
be used when it is in wood colors, and not apphed too 
thickly. 

BRACKETS. 

These may be constructed in simple forms of the 
plain wood, without any of the elaborate carving men- 
tioned on a former page. They will not, of course, be 
as handsome, but are quite as useful. A little shelf, 
with semi-circular front, and sides cut to fit into a cor- 
ner, may simply be fastened on the chair-rail. This is 
a corner shelf rather than a bracket, but is a convenient 
place for a vase of flowers or little bust. A small shelf, 
wdth straight back, and semi-circular front fitted to a 
standard, is the j)lainest style of the bracket proper. 
You will have to get a carpenter to cut the shelves and 
standards. You can then convert the i)lain affair into 
something fanciful by decorating shelf and standard 
with any of the leather or wood ornaments previously 
described. 



166 THE HOME. 



LETTEE RACKS. 

These and letter pockets may be cut out of leather, 
or wood. If of the former, you can do it yourself, hav- 
ing nrst cut a paper pattern. Ornament the leather 
with small leaves, arranged in various forms, and the 
wood with rosettes of small articles, and pine cone 
scales, etc. They are sometimes made of embroidered 
cloth or satin, but these only suit bedrooms and libra- 
ries. 

PICTURE FRAMES. 

The prettiest home-made frames, after those made 
from the carved wood, are of leather leaves. Kustic 
work, if isimple in construction, also looks well. Quite 
a graceful looking oval frame may be formed by twist- 
ing grape vines fantastically together, allowing the ends 
to project at the top and bottom. 

A WARDIAN CASE. 

This is a small glass closet over a well-drained box 
of soil. It can be constructed in various ways. The 
following is one of the simplest forms. Take a com- 
mon, cheap table, about four feet long, and two wide. 
Eemove the tojD boards, and board the bottom with 
them tightly. Line the box thus formed with zinc. 
Make the top of window glass. It should be about two 
and a half feet high, with a ridge-pole, on which rests 
the slanting roof of glass. In one end of this there 
must be a door of good size. The box must have a 
hole for drainage. 

This is the case, v*^hich must now be filled with soil. 



OKNAMENTAL WORK. 167 

First turn a flower-pot saucer over the hole, which 
would otherwise be stopped up. Then spread over 
the bottom a layer of charcoal and broken pot-sherds 
an inch in depth. On this put the soil, which must be 
mixed in the following proportions : two fourths wood 
soil, one fourth clean sand, one fourth meadow soil 
taken from under fresh turf, and a small proportion of 
charcoal dust. This is large enough to give you a 
succession of flowers the whole winter, if you know 
what to put in it. If you do not, and have no one 
at hand to advise you, florists' catalogues will furnish 
the desired information. But the surest way to suc- 
cess is to write to some well-known florist, telling him 
what fuel you use, the temperature of the room, and 
the exposure of the window, and for a small sum of 
money he will send you the proper plants for this 
case, or for hanging baskets and flower-stands. It is 
absolutely necessary that the room in which are grow- 
ing plants should be kept at an even temperature. 

FLOWER STANDS. 

Plain ones may be made with tables in the same way 
as described for the Wardian case, but without the glass 
cover. Fill the box about one third full of sand, and 
in this imbed the flower pots containing your plants, 
arranging them with reference to size, and also to 
color, if in blossom. Spread moss over the top of the 
stand in such a way as to conceal the pots. This will 
have to be renewed a few times during the winter. The 
sand should be kept damp, but not wet, and the moss 
also a little damp ; and the plants should be watered 
very httle except in the case of those that require an 



168 THE HOME. 

unusual supply of moisture, and these had better not 
be kept in the same stand with those that require only 
the ordinary supply. 

The shelves, rising one above another, that have long 
been used for flower-stands, have been found objection- 
able, because the flower-pots are obtrusively ugly, but 
the flower-pot covers that are now sold remove this 
objection. These can be made of card-board, or thin 
pieces of wood. Still this is not a very desirable form 
of flower-stand, being cumbrous and possessing little 
beauty. The flower-pot covers will be found very nice 
when you wish to set a -single plant on the window-sill 
or table. 

For more fanciful forms of flower-stands, you should 
have the standards made by a neighboring cabinet- 
maker in i3lain wood and of any device. You can then 
ornament them with rustic work at your leisure. For 
the top you can have a round, square, or octagon box, 
also embellished with rustic work. Fill with soil, as in 
the Wardian case. Or you can have a fla> circular 
piece of wood nailed to the standard, forming a round 
table. Make lustic work around the edge so that it 
shall be several inches high, and set on the table a bas- 
ket made like a hanging basket, only larger, or some 
fancifully-made box, filled with soil for the reception of 
plants. All stands should be mounted on casters for 
convenience of moving^ 

Your own taste wlU suggest a variety of elegant de- 
vices for flower-stands, either for plants or cut flowers. 
If you can have the frames properly made according to 
your design, you can yourself ornament them in many 
beautiful styles. And there is nothing that so adorns a 



ORNAMENTAL WOEK. 169 

room as a flower stand with its variety of greens and 
brilliant colors. 

HANGING BASKETS. 

If you take a cocoanut shell, and saw off a small sec- 
tion from the upper part, put in it a little piece of 
sponge, fill the shell with nothing but scouring sand, 
and a little charcoal, put in it the common plant, known 
generally as moneywort, and hang it where it can get 
the light and a little sunshine, you will soon have 
long swaying festoons and pendants of soft green, en- 
twined with golden blossoms, through which will gleam 
the dark rich brown of your cocoanut shell, thus easily 
transformed into " a thing of beauty." 

This is the simplest form of the hanging basket. For 
larger ones you can use wooden bowls, ornamented 
with rosettes and figures made of coffee, rice, and ber- 
ries, as mentioned previously. With these can be 
mingled scales of pine cones, leather, leaves, etc. Or 
they can have edgings of rustic work, the rest of the 
bowl being ornamented with rosettes and balls made of 
the small materials. Three holes must be bored at 
regular distances near the edge for the cords that are 
to support the basket. 

Very pretty baskets are made of sticks of oak, maple, 
or any of the handsomely-colored woods ; they should 
be of equal lengths, eight or twelve inches long. Build 
up like a log house. At each corner a heated wire is 
thrust through the ends of the sticks to hold them to- 
gether, and is bent into a loop at the top which sup- 
ports the cord. A wooden bottom must be nailed on. 
Fill the interstices with moss. 

And so we might go on through all the gradations, 
which are almost infinite up to the elaborate and in- 



170 THE HOME. 

tricate designs in carved wood, shell-work, cork, etc. 
There is nothing easier to make than a hanging basket, 
or more difficult if you choose to tak6 trouble. But 
the idea that many persons have that they must be 
bought is erroneous, for all the plainer styles that are 
sold by florists can be imitated with perfect success 
without very much trouble. A basket covered with 
rustic work carefully made, and pretty in design, with a 
handle of twisted grape vines, at an expenditure of fifty 
cents for materials, and a dollar for plants and vines, 
will be quite as handsome as one the florist would sell 
you for five dollars, and will have the advantage that 
the plants are much more likely to blossom. For it is 
a common complaint that when the baskets lose the 
flowers that are on them when bought they bloom no 
more — not that season, at least. The reason is that the 
dry air of the room in which they are hung is too 
great a change from the moist air of their native home, 
the greenhouse. 

Very few things will grow like moneywort in common 
sand, but the soil in a hanging basket should not be 
very rich, or you will have a profusion of leaves, and 
but few blossoms. A light sandy loam is best. In the 
bottom place a piece of coarse sponge. This will hold 
the moisture, and the roots will absorb it as they require 
it. Also put bits of charcoal in the bottom, as this acts 
as a purifier to keep the earth sweet. Then fill with 
soil, one part rich earth, and two parts sand. 

* WAX WOKK. 

Wax flowers are the best imitations of the real ones, 
but where the latter can be obtained the former should 



ORNAMENTAL WORK. 171 

be dispensed with. With the introduction of hanging 
baskets and flower-stands, we have natural flowers in 
profusion in winter, when it is not always easy to ob- 
tain the cut flowers. So there would seem to be no 
necessity for the wax imitations. If you make these, 
use them sparingly, a spray of white lilies perhaps in 
one room, and a tea rose in another. Do not mass 
them together in great bunches. 

Wax fruits, heaped up under glass covers, are not de- 
sirable ornaments. We marvel for a few moments at 
their wonderful resemblance to the original, but we 
soon tire of them. In a large room, however, they or 
the flowers massed together, do sometimes produce a 
fine effect from a distance, as a focus of briUiant col- 
ors. . 

A wax cross, with a trailing vine of passion flowers 
and green leaves, or rising in naked simplicity from a 
bed of violets or pansies, is a beautiful ornament for a 
mantel-piece or bracket. 

LAMP SCREENS AND WINDOW PICTURES. 

We mention these together because what is made for 
a window picture will do for a lamp screen. There are 
many kinds of lamp screens made, however, that can- 
not be used for window pictures, but into the merits of 
these we have not space to enter. The two styles we 
select are the prettiest. 

Upon a square of white, or dehcately tinted Bristol- 
board, trace Hghtly some pretty design, such as a bou- 
quet, a cluster of leaves and fruit, or a cross, or an an- 
chor, wreathed with leaves and flowers. The latter 
should be simple in form ; passion-flowers, lilies of the 
valley, apple blossoms, and sweet peas are the most ef- 



172 THE HOME. 

fective. Fern leaves and fruit are also among t-lie sim- 
pler designs. 

For more effective pictures, select parts of a land- 
scape, or figure pictures that are not too elaborate. 

Having traced the design, lay the Bristol-board flat 
on a block of hard wood, and with a thin-bladed and 
very sharp knife proceed to cut smoothly through as 
much of each outline as possible, without entirely de- 
taching any leaf or other distinct portion from the 
whole. One fifth of a leaf left without cutting through 
will be sufficient. Sometimes judicious prickings with 
a coarse needle add to the good effect. The points of 
the leaves and the petals of the flowers should next be 
pressed through toward the window to admit the light, 
and give the softly shaded effect we desire. The trans- 
parency can then be hung close to a window pane by 
means of narrow white ribbon loops at the corners, se- 
cured to the wood-work. 

For lamp screens, several of these pieces of Bristol- 
board, each w^th a separate picture, can be put to- 
gether. 

The glass transparencies are more easily made, and 
require no skill in drawing. 

Arrange pressed ferns, grasses, or autumn leaves, ac- 
cording to some pretty design, on a pane of window 
glass. Lay a pane of the same size over it, and bind 
the edges together with ribbon. 

The best way to put on the binding, is to gum it all 
around the edge of the first pane you use, and let it di*y 
before you arrange your design on it. Then you can 
fold it neatly over the second pane, and gum it on that. 
Use gum-tragacanth. It is well to put a narrow piece 
uf paper under the ribbon. 



ORNAMENTAL WORK. 173 

To form the loop for banging, paste a binding of gal- 
loon along the upper edge before the ribbon binding is 
put on, leaving a two-inch loop in the centre, to be 
pulled through a httle sHt in the final binding. 

For a lamp screen, take four, six, or eight of these 
transparencies, and tack them together with strong 
sewing silk. To soften the light, the screen should be 
lined with oiled tissue paper, white or rose-color. Or 
you can give the glass the effect known as " ground 
glass," by rubbing the inner surface of each pane on a 
flat smooth stone, plentifully covered with white sand, 
before you insert the leaves. 



PART VIII. 

HOW TO FUENISH A HOUSE FOE A 
THOUSAND DOLLAES. 

[The following Price Lists are carefully prepared, but 
it must be remembered that prices vary somewhat in 
different localities, and even in different stores in the 
same city, and that they also change from year to year. 
The latter is especially true of woven fabrics. But these 
changes are not radical enough to interfere with the 
list as a guide. 

A house may be furnished for a less sum than that 
here given, from directions to be found in Part III. 

Goods of inferior quahty may sometimes be bought 
at lower j)rices than the same article is quoted in our 
Price List. Cornices, for instance, which we quote at 
three dollars and upward, are sold as low as a dollar 
and a half, but they are poorly made, and not such as 
we would recommend. 

Our object has been to give the prices of standard 
goods that we know to be worth the money paid for 
them.] 



PRICE LIST. 

Kitchen, 15 X 15. 

1 Table (5 feet long) ^^'^^ 

« «* (3 " " ) ^-^^ 

,r.u- 3.00 

^,^\^"^ ;;.; 3.00 

Clock 

SmaU Lantern • • ^'^^ 

Step Ladder ^'^^ 

Scales • 

Nail Hammer '^ 

Tack " ^'I 

Market Basket "'^^ 

Clothes " |-^^ 

Tm Slop-pail, with cover ^'^^ 

Coal Scuttle (galvanized) 1-^° 

Screw Driver • ^ 

TaokClaw 0-^^ 

rr 0:0 

Can Opener 

, Spoon and Fork Basket ^•'^^ 

KnifeBox ^.38 

Knife Board ^-^^ 

IcePick • 

Quart Measure "' 

P-t " ifo 

Coffee MiU ^-"^ 

Slice 

Spice Box "^"^ 



176 THE HOME. 

■ Sugar Canister l.Ot 

Tea " 0.25 

Coffee " 0.25 

• Eice « 0.75 

Bread Box 2.00 

. Cake " 1.50 

Funnel 0.18 

' Set of Wash-tubs ... 5.00 

Clothes Horse 1.50 

Skirt Board 1.25 

Bosom " 0.25 

Wash Board 0.38 

■ Wash Bench 1.75 

6 doz. Clothes Pins 0.24 

Wash Boiler 5.00 

Stand for Flat-irons 0.15 

Clothes Lines 0. 75 

6 Flat Irons in three sizes 3.50 

- Ironing Blankets 2.00.' 

2 Carpet Brooms , . 1.00 

Stove Brush 0. 50 

Scrubbing Brush .-...» 0.31 

Window " 0. 88 

Dust Pan , 0.25 

Tea Kettle (tin) 1.50 

Iron Pot (large) 2.50 

" " (smaU) 1.50 

Enamelled Preserviag Kettle 2 .00 

2 Tin Saucepans 1.00 

Steamer and Saucepan 2.00 

Fry Pan (large) 1.00 

" " (small) 0.50 

Dish Pan (large) 1.50 

" « (smaU) , 1.00 

Set of 4 round Tin Pans 1.00 

EoUPan 0.75 

Cake " (round) 0.2$ 

2 Bread Pans 0.76 

Drip Pan 1.00 



PKICE LIST. 177 

BaJdng Tin (oval) ' 

«' " (squared 

^^ ,, ^ 0.76 

2 Eartlien Pans 

2 Lipped Bowls • 

Set of White Bowls ^'^^ 

Pudding Dish • 

*« (smaller) ^•^^- 

Waffle L'on ' ^ 

Muffin Pan, and doz. rings ^^j' 

Soap-stone Griddle ^ ^^ 

Chopping Board ' 

- Bowl ^-^j 

^ , .. 0.75 

Bread ^ ^^ 

, Pastry Board ^' ^^ 

Boiling Pin ■ 

2 Pastry Cutters * 

2Cal.e - • If 

Coffee Boiler ^'^^ 

2 Bakers ' 

Meat Knife ^^^ 

^f"^ ';. ;":;::;; o*.5o 

^^PP^"^ : 0.25 

Cork Screw ^ ^5 

Meat Fork ' • ' 

„ , ,, 0.15 

Toast " gQ 

Steak Tongs '^^ 

Paste Jagger ' 

3 Iron Spoons • 

2Wooden « ^-^^ 

"Wooden Ladle • 

Vegetable Skimmer "'^^ 

, 2 Water Pails ••• • ""^r 

^. -r^- ... 0.20 

^^^!^pp^^ : 0.75 

Hair Sieve 

Wire - (large) ^-^^ 

■ " " (s^^H) 015 

Potato Masher "'^^ 

Flour Dredger * 

_, ,, 0.15 

Pepper * • 



178 THE HOME. 

Lemon Squeezer 0.25 

Cake Turner 0.20 

Egg Beater 0.18 

2 doz. Patty Pans 0.76 

Gravy Strainer 0.25 

6 Pie Plates 0.60 

2 Graters 0.50 

1 Nutmeg Grater 0.10 

Set of Steel Skewers 0.75 

JeUy Mould 0.75 

Cullender (large) 0.75 

(small) 0.50 , 

Salt Box 0.50 

2 Gridirons (large and small) 1.00 



Total $109.30 



EXTEAS. 



Hair Broom •. $1.75 

Feather Duster 1.50 

Stair Brush l.p[2 

Ash Kettle and Sifter 4 50 

Garbage Pail 5.00 

Batter Kettle 1.50 

Enamelled Iron Saucepan 1 .50; 

" Kettle 2.00 

Tinned Iron Saucepan 1.38 

" Kettle 1.50 

" " Stewpan 1.75 

Knife Washer 1.38 

Jelly Strainer 3.00 

Plate Warmer (japanned) 6. 50 

Table Service for Servants • 3.62 

Knives and Forks « 1.50 

Porcelain-lined fire proof Baking Dish, silver plated 

outside 7.25 

Clothes Wringer 8.00 

Refrigerator 15.00 

Upright Eoaster and Jack 16.00 



PRICE LIST. 179 

DINING-ROOM, 15 X 18. 

2 Scotcli Holland Window Shades with tassels, and 

patent rollers $3. 80 

14 yards Satine for curtains for two windows 8. 7o 

2 Window Cornices, walnut and gilt 7.00 

30 yards Ameiicau Ingrain Carpeting at $1.50 per 

yard 45.00 

Walnut Extension Table for 12 ijersons 14.00 

6 Chairs, walnut with cane seats 18.00 

Walnut Sideboard 40.00 

Water Cooler 3.00 

Japanned Tea Tray 1. 50 

Small Tray for waiter 0. 75 

Britannia Coffee Pot 2.75 

Egg Boiler (wire) 0.75- 

1 doz. Plated Table Forks 10.00 

*' " Dessert " 9.00 

" " Table Spoons 10.00 

"*« " Dessert " 9.00 

" « Tea « 5.00 

A Plated Dinner Caster 10.00 

1 doz. Kubber-handled Knives 6. 00 

Carver and Steel 3.50 

Set of Palm-leaf Tabic Mats 1.00 

Dinner Bell 0.50 

Plated Call BeU 1.50 

Plain white French China Dinner Set, 134 pieces . . 30 .00 
Plain white French China Tea Set, 44 pieces 7. 50 

1 doz. Goblets, cut glass 4.00 

" Tumblers, pressed glass 1.00 

Celery Glass 0.75 

2 Preserve Dishes, cut glass, and of different sizes . . 3.00 

China Fruit Basket 1.50 

Glass 1.00 

Water Pitcher 0.75 

Molasses Jug . . 0. 75 

1 doz Glass Salt Cellars 0.75 

Total $261.80 



180 THE HOME. 



EXTEAS. 

Solid Silver Table Spoons $55 to 60 

« " " Forks " " " 

" Dessert " 40 to 45 

" Spoons " " " 

" Tea " 24 to 30 

English Porcelain Dinner Set, 142 pieces 25.00 

English Porcelain Tea Set, 56 pieces 5.25 

1 doz. Ivory-handled Knives 7.00 

Glass Knife-rests, each, 0.25 

Set of Tea Trays 7.50 

Plated Breakfast-caster 5 .00 

Note — The plated ware in the above list is of the very best triple plate, 
and will stand the wear of years. But spoons and forks are sold at lower 
prices, less heavily plated — quite good articles at two dollars less on each 
dozen. 

The china sets are very full aiid of fine quality. A greatly inferior kind, 
less serviceable, and with fewer pieces, can be bought as low as seventeen 
dollars for a dinner service ; and, in EngUsh Porcelain, as low as thirteen 
dollars. 



TABLE-LINEN AND TOWELS. 

8 yards Linen Damask, for 4 table-cloths $4.80 

2 Bordered Table-cloths, finer Damask, 2 5 yards 

long 9.00 

Material for 2 kitchen table-cloths 1.50 

2 doz. Plain Napkins 4.00 

U " Fine « * 9.00 

2 doz. Towels 6.00 

1 *' FineTowels , 9.00 

6 Towels for servant's room 1. 00 

8 " " glass and china 1.60 

8 Coarser Dish Towels 0.96 

Total $46.86 



PEICE LIST. 181 



BED-KOOM, 15 X 18. 

2 Window-sliades. .^ $3.80 

14 yards Chintz for curtains for two windows 4.90 

2 Window-cornices, walmit and gilt 6.00 

30 yards American Ingrain Carpeting, at $1.50 per 

yard 45.00 

Suit of Cottage Furnitui*e, 10 pieces, with marble- 
top bureau, and wash-stand 50.00 

Springs for Bedstead 5.00 

Hair Mattress, (40 lbs.) 28.00 

2 Feather Pillows, (4 lbs. eaeh) 8.00 

Feather Bolster, 6 lbs.) 6.00 

1 pair Blankets 15.00 

2 Marseilles Spreads 8.00 

3 pairs Cotton Sheets, (9-4 wide) 8.25 

" « " Pillow-cases, (5-4 wide) 3.60 

3 Cotton Bolster-cases 1.56 

White China Toilet Set, (13 pieces) 7.50 



Total $200.61 



PARLOR AND SITTING-ROOM COMBINED, 15 X 18. 

2 Scotch Holland Window Shades, with tassels and 

patent rollers $4.40 

14 yards Nottingham Lace, for two windows, with 
lambrequins of satine, covered with the lace, 
and cords and tassels 36.00 

2 Gilt Window-cornices , 10.00 

30 yards English Ingrain Carpeting, at $1.75 per 

yard 52.50 

Part of a Suit of Oiled Walnut Furniture, includ- 
ing sofa, large easy-chair, and small easy- 
chair, covered with woolen rep 84.00 

2 Walnut Keception-chairs, straw seats 10.00 

Sewing-chair 5.00 



182 TEE HOME. 

Fancy Chair 12.00 

Walnut Table, with marble top 16.00 

Total $229.90 

HALL AND STAIRWAY. 

6 yards Venetian Carpeting for Hall, yard wide, at 

$2.50 per yard $15.00 

10 yards Venetian Carpeting for Stairway, half 

yard wide, at $1.25 per yard 12.50 

1^ dozen Stair-pads 3 .75 

I5 dozen Brass Stair-rods 6.75 

Hat-stand and Umbrella-rack. 10.00 



Total $48.00 

servant's room, 15 X 15. 

1 "Wmdow Shade and Trimmings $1.00 

25 yards Eag Carpeting 25.00 

SmaU Table 2.00 

Looking Glass 1 .00 

Wash-stand 2.00 

Chair 0.75 

Eocking-chair 3.00 

Single Bedstead 5.00 

Sp-ings for Bedstead 3.00 

Hair Mattress 10.00 

1 pair Blankets 5.50 

Colored Cotton Bed-spread 1.75 

Feather PiUow, (3 lbs.) 3.00 

3 pairs Cotton Sheets, (6-4. wide) 3.39 

3 Pillow-cases 1.20 

Toilet Set • 2.50 



Total $70.09 



EXTRAS. 

Bureau, vrith glass $10.00 

Calico Comfortable 2.50 



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CON TENTS : 

Outline History o? Dress. Economy and Taste. 

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